


The Debt By mjimeyg

by indian_sqaw



Series: mjimeyg [9]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, This is a Repost all words belong to mjimeyg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2019-09-29
Packaged: 2020-11-01 08:36:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20812205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indian_sqaw/pseuds/indian_sqaw
Summary: Harry is owed many life debts. In his fifth year, someone decides to actually honour theirs.





	The Debt By mjimeyg

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Repost all words belong to mjimeyg

*Chapter 1*: The Debt  
Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter or 'Allo, 'Allo.

A/N: This is as close as I would come to writing a sex scene... no pun intended.

The Debt

"You know what you have to do, Fleur?"

"Yes Papa, stay close to Harry and advise him."

"Do not be seen. If you are detected you will have no choice but to reveal the truth. After that… it is out of my hands."

"But I can tell Harry, yes?"

"If you truly believe he won't abuse the knowledge, then do as you feel you should."

Without a doubt, the school year so far sucked. Even the holidays had sucked. Harry had been persistently bullied by his bully of a cousin, although he was proud of the way he stood up to him. He had been attacked by Dementors and then nearly kicked out of Hogwarts for defending himself from them. And that annoying toad woman was at Hogwarts.

He'd only just finished the Welcoming Feast and he was already looking forward to the Dursleys. Hell had officially frozen over.

Harry had just snapped at Ron, he was only trying to help, which was a big change from his behaviour the previous year with the tournament. Now he was lying on his bed in his clothes and pondering the universal question: Why me?

"Psst!"

Harry idly looked around, he checked the heater in the middle of the room, looked for Crookshanks, but couldn't see anything that would hiss.

"PSST!"

"Is someone there?"

"Under the bed." Came a harsh whisper.

Harry had a brief thought that his Care of Magical Creatures textbook had escaped again and actually evolved some intelligence. He was about to brush the notion away as being ridiculous but remembered he'd seen weirder.

Harry rolled over so he was hanging off the edge of the bed and peered into the darkness.

"Hello?" He asked.

There was a sudden rustling and then what appeared to be an Invisibility Cloak was pulled down to reveal a blonde female.

"Bonjour, Harry." The girl smiled happily.

"Erm…" She looked familiar but it was hard to tell whilst she was upside down… or he was.

"It is me, Fleur Delacour!"

"Fleur!" The surprise caused Harry to try and turn right side up but he accidentally knocked himself off the bed to land with a thump.

Fleur giggled and grabbed his arm and pulled. "Get under here." She instructed.

Not really understanding what was going on, he complied. And so Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, the Boy-Who-Lies, Tri-Wizard Champion and possible murderer of Cedric Diggory found himself under his own Hogwarts bed with a French girl a few years older than him.

"Fleur… why are we under my bed? Why are you under my bed?"

"I am here to help you." She declared.

"Help me? Did Dumbledore send you?"

"Non."

"Sirius?"

"Qui?"

"Who sent you? Help me how?"

"Well… in a sense my family sent me. We owe you a great deal. And I am here to help you by advising you. We think that I might know more about the magical world than you, you seemed fairly… lost last year."

Harry thought that was a fairly accurate. "Thanks, I think. But why are you under my bed?"

"I'm hiding, of course! No one can know I am here." She told him as though it was obvious.

"In my dorm room or…?"

"With you, anywhere, they will try and keep me away and then I won't be able to help you."

"Couldn't you just go to Dumbledore and ask for permission?"

"I can't take the risk. Besides, the British Ministry of Magic would try and interfere, they want you to suffer as much as possible." She spat angrily.

"That obvious, huh?" He grunted.

"Very much so."

"You aren't really going to stay under my bed are you? We get undressed in here, where are you going to get washed and dressed?"

"I will sneak into your bathroom when you are in class, and I promise to keep my eyes closed when you change." She smirked.

"Isn't there anywhere else you can stay? Somewhere with a bed, maybe?"

"Not without people finding me. How many people do you think would suspect you had someone hiding under your bed?" She teased.

"One." Harry thought of Mad-Eye instantly.

Fleur raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?"

"What can I say, Mad-Eye is really paranoid." He chuckled.

They suddenly heard voices coming. "Stay here and don't make a sound!" Harry hissed as he quickly shuffled out from under the bed.

"Non, je pensais que je me levais et exécuter une danse." Fleur muttered sarcastically to herself.

Once his dorm mates had gone to bed and he was reasonably sure they were asleep he grabbed his own Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map and dragged Fleur out of the room.

"Harry, I need to stay close to you so I can advise you!" Fleur argued.

"And if you get caught you won't be able to advise me at all. Now trust me, if anyone knows a place where you can hide its Dobby. Now wait here for me." He said as he began to tickle the pear in a portrait.

"Cet endroit est tellement bizarre." Fleur muttered as a wall opened and Harry stepped in.

It wasn't long before Harry returned with a clearly excited House Elf bouncing behind him. "Follow us." He whispered.

She followed silently as Harry and the elf led her up to the seventh floor. The Elf whispered instructions to Harry and he began walking back and forth in front of a specific section. She was impressed when a door materialised out of the stone wall and she saw the room beyond.

"C'est incroyable!" Fleur whispered loudly.

Dobby jumped and took a defensive position between Harry and the noise.

"Who's there?" Dobby demanded squeakily.

"Easy Dobby, it's Fleur. You can come out now."

Fleur pulled the cloak off as she fixed her barely mussed hair. The room was huge, it was like a mansion. They were currently standing in what appeared to be a foyer, a set of ornate stairs circled around the walls for three floors.

"It's amazing!" She repeated in English.

"Very." Harry agreed. "Fleur, this my friend Dobby. Dobby, meet Fleur."

"Dobby remembers Miss from last year. Dobby is glad that Miss and her sister were alright when Master Harry saved them."

"Erm… thank you Dobby." She said slightly nervous about that particular subject.

"Dobby says that this will be the perfect place to hide." Harry told her. "Looks… comfy."

"Comfy? Voilà un euphémisme!" She snorted.

"What?"

"I said 'That's an understatement'. This place is fit for a queen!" She gushed. "Maybe you should stay here as well, at least you won't have to suffer Ronald's snoring." She giggled.

"After four years, the only thing that's changed is the pitch." Harry chuckled.

"Why don't you just use a silencing charm on his nose. That is what most people do. My mother does the same thing for my father."

"Silencio, right?"

"Oui. I will have to teach you some French spells, that will help you. So will casting without spells."

"You can do that?" He asked in amazement.

"Oui. In France we learn at age thirteen. I will also teach you mind arts and apparition."

"Mind arts?"

"How to defend your mind from a mental attack and how to attack someone's mind."

Harry suddenly tensed and looked very uncomfortable.

Fleur sighed. "Harry, I am here to help you. What is wrong?"

"Will it stop dreams and visions?" He asked nervously.

Fleur's delicate eyebrow rose in surprise. "What are you seeing in your dreams and visions?"

"Voldemort." Fleur gasped at the name. "Things he is doing, I think he is affecting my mood as well, I am always angry."

Fleur couldn't help but giggle. "Désolé, Harry, I'm sorry." She touched his arm at his hurt look. "First of all, you have every right to be angry. The world is persecuting you. They don't even ask for your side of things, they just belittle and insult you. Then you are attacked by the foulest of creatures, hauled before a criminal court for defending yourself from those creatures and you are still dealing with seeing Cedric murdered and being party to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's resurrection.

"And to top all that, you are a teenage boy going through puberty. 'Angry' is the natural state of anyone in your position."

Harry could see her point, but something still wasn't right. "The anger doesn't feel natural."

"Well, the Mind Arts may help. They require emotional control."

"In that case, when can we start?" Harry nearly begged.

"Definitely not tonight." She told him primly.

"If you're going to be hiding in this place you should take this." He said handing her and activating the Marauder's Map.

"This is an amazing piece of work, Harry. Don't you have more?"

"No, this was what my father and his friends made."

"None of them are around? If they are you get them to make more, this is far too useful to only have one."

"I guess I can ask Padfoot and Moony." Harry shrugged.

Harry left Fleur in the capable hands of Dobby as he attempted to go to sleep. She had forbidden him from telling even Ron and Hermione. She had promised to explain later that evening.

But he was very late in making it back to the room and he was very angry.

"Harry? What happened?" Fleur asked worriedly.

"Nothing to help my anger problems." He really did try not to snarl at Fleur, but it was far too difficult.

Fleur stepped forward and placed her hands on Harry's face, palming his temples. "Breathe in deeply Harry."

Fleur led Harry through a series of deep breaths. Harry found it harder and harder to be angry.

"I feel better." He admitted. "What was that? Hermione is always telling me to take a deep breath, it never works, just makes me think harder about what is wrong."

Fleur looked a little embarrassed. "She is not a Veela, like me." She admitted.

"You used your Veela abilities on me?" He asked, but there was no anger or distrust.

"I tried to. You, fortunately, are able to resist my allure to a degree. If I wanted to I could make any man beg at my feet, but there are some, especially those who are in love who are immune. But my allure can still have some effect."

"But you can't control me?" Harry re-stated.

"Non, Harry. You are very resistant to the mind arts."

"Makes sense, I can throw off Voldemort's Imperious." Harry shrugged.

"You can? That is amazing! He is supposed to be the strongest wizard of our time."

"I thought Dumbledore was the strongest?"

"He is the strongest naturally born magical. Voldemort is said to have gone through various power boosting rituals to increase his magical strength." Fleur led him over to a couch and sat him down before curling in the corner with her legs tucked under her. "Now, tell me what had you so angry."

"The new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor; Umbridge. She accused me of lying, and she refuses to teach us properly. She did this." He said sullenly as he stuck out his hand.

"Mon Dieu!" Fleur gasped. "What did she use? Magic?"

"Some sort of a quill. It took the blood from my hand to use whilst I wrote lines."

Fleur took out her wand and began teaching Harry a powerful healing charm that would also remove any dark magic. She then taught him a numbing charm in case he needed it.

"But this needs to be reported, Harry."

"How? The Ministry doesn't believe me!"

"The Ministry is not who you really need to contact. Write a letter to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Then copy the letter to the ICW. Who did you report the Dementor attack to?"

"No one. I told them at the hearing but they ignored it."

"Non, non, non." Fleur sighed shaking her head and making her hair fly about. Harry was entranced by the fact that it all fell neatly back into place. "You need to file an official complaint and again, send a copy to the ICW."

Fleur stood up and grabbed Harry's hand, dragging him to another room, which appeared to be a study.

"You will write a letter to your father's friends and ask them to make another map. But first, you know what this is?"

Harry recognized the stone basin easily. "A pensieve."

"Oui. Now you will show me the memories of this summer's attack and what that Professor did to you. Then I will help you write the letters to the Ministry and ICW."

"Do you think we could write to them about my Godfather as well?"

"What about him?"

"He is a falsely accused person. Everyone thinks he was the person who sold myself and my parents to Voldemort. But I know for a fact he didn't because I met the man who confessed to doing it and framing Sirius."

Fleur considered this. Sirius Black was big news in the world as all countries were to be aware in case he tried to cross borders.

"You know where he is?"

"I do, but I literally can't say where he is. He's under a fidelius."

"Impressionnante."

"Huh?"

"Impressive."

"Ah."

Fleur just giggled. She would try and teach him some French.

"It can not hurt to try. The worst they can do is question you with Veritserum." She shrugged.

The following morning, Harry found himself walking up to the Staff Table to stand in front of Madam Umbridge. He really didn't want to do this, but Fleur had made him swear, she claimed he needed to build a good reputation. She had been quite specific with what he was to do.

"Professor Umbridge." Harry addressed her formally.

Harry just stood there and waited. He could see Umbridge had noticed him. She wasn't talking to anyone when he approached, but the second after he addressed her she turned and tried to engage Professor Sinastra in conversation.

Harry was still standing there after thirty seconds. The teachers had noticed. The students had noticed. The ghosts and portraits had even noticed. Everyone but Umbridge was looking at him. Even Sinastra was looking at him, she appeared to be very uncomfortable.

"Professor Umbridge! Do you have a problem with your senses or are you being deliberately rude in ignoring Mister Potter?" Professor McGonagall demanded.

Umbridge was slightly annoyed, she had been hoping that Potter would leave with his tail between his legs in shame at being shunned.

"Very well, what is it, Mister Potter?" She demanded.

"I only wished to apologise for my manners in class yesterday." Harry was trying to keep his voice steady despite the mix of shame, anger and nervousness he was feeling.

"So you have miraculously come to your senses and are willing to admit you were lying about You-Know-Who's return?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"No Professor. I stand by my statement and will be willing to testify in open court under veritiserum. No, I was apologizing for the manner in which I addressed you. I was wrong to raise my voice and express my anger."

The hall was now buzzing with murmurs about the news that Potter was willing to testify under veritiserum.

"And what will you testify to? That you are delusional?" She scoffed.

"I do not believe that a school is the best place to discuss this, Professor. If the Ministry wishes to question me, I will of course happily comply."

"Quite right Mister Potter." McGonagall chimed in. "This is not the place. 5 points to Gryffindor for the shear courage and honour you showed by apologizing in front of the hall." She said proudly. "I believe you should re-join your housemates."

"Yes Professor." Harry said respectfully before giving a very short bow to Umbridge and walking back to his seat.

Despite the questions, Harry told them he had nothing more to say, even Ron and Hermione couldn't get him to speak up.

During his second class of the day he was called to the Headmaster's office where he found Madam Bones along with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall who had escorted him.

"Ah, Mister Potter. I assume you remember me from your hearing?" Madam Bones asked as she shook his hand.

"Yes Madam Bones. A pleasure to meet you."

"Let's cut to the chase, what is this about you wanting to file a complaint against Madam Umbridge, you have news about Sirius Black and… well, it is understandable that you wish to report the Dementor attack."

"Which would you like to start with?" Harry asked.

"I believe we can leave the Dementor attack till last as I have a majority of the details."

"But you don't have my testimony. Minister Fudge prevented me from giving it."

"Yes, but Missus Figg gave hers and I have been interviewing her. We will come back to it. I promise." She assured him. "Let's start with Sirius Black. What do you know?"

"I know that he is innocent. I know of several people that can also testify to that fact including Sirius Black himself."

"If that were the case he would have said so at his trial." She pointed out.

"True." Harry conceded. "If he actually had a trial."

"You claim he didn't have a trial?" She asked slightly insulted.

"He claims. Would he have been questioned under veritiserum at trial?"

"He would have, yes."

"Then I can confirm that he was not questioned under veritiserum and if he was the testimony was covered up."

"Just how do you presume to know this?"

"Because in front of myself and three others, Sirius Black revealed the real guilty party and this person confessed. There were other factors that proved Black's innocence without the confession."

"And just who is this person?" She asked sceptically.

"Madam, I would rather not say unless I am under veritiserum and standing before representatives of the ICW. I am sure you can understand that neither myself nor my Godfather wish for this to be covered up again."

This time she was really insulted. "Mister Potter, I can assure you that my department is of the utmost integrity!" She practically hissed.

"And I am not suggesting otherwise." Harry said calmly. "But can you, without a doubt, state the same of your superiors? After all, is it really common practice to hold a full criminal hearing for a single use of Underage Magic, especially where self-defence is claimed and the Muggle witness was my cousin who is well aware of Magic?"

That actually brought her up short. "I suppose you may have a point."

"Muggles have a saying: 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.'"

Bones mulled that over in her mind for a few moments. "Crass, yet pertinent I suppose." She admitted.

"And completely true." Harry stated firmly. "All I, and my Godfather want, is for him to be free and the real culprit hunted down."

Bones frowned for a moment in thought. "Mister Potter, do you actually know where Sirius Black is hiding?"

Harry just frowned back. "Are you asking as part of an official investigation? If so, I would prefer to have a representative of the ICW as council."

"Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall aren't enough?" She countered.

"What do you think Fudge would say?" Harry scoffed.

She had to concede that point.

"Besides, if nothing else, shouldn't someone from the DMLE have investigated when I encountered Sirius Black at the end of my third year? Minister Fudge refused to believe me but claimed I must have been under a confundus."

"Quite likely to be honest." She agreed. "It is what I would expect of Sirius Black."

"You knew him?" Harry asked in surprise.

"What? No, of course not."

"Then how can you expect anything of him?"

"He is a criminal!"

"Prove it." Harry countered with a grin. "However, if you need an opening for an investigation, both Minister Fudge and Professor Snape claimed I was placed under a confundus charm. Snape accused Sirius of attacking me. If that is true, shouldn't I have been questioned and the event investigated?"

"I was told it was."

"By whom? You are the Head of the DMLE, shouldn't you have read the report?" Harry could see Bones was getting very irritated and very offended. "Madam Bones, I am not trying to be difficult. But the fact of the matter is, that the Ministry of Magic and its Law Enforcement has failed to protect me or even aid me when it knows I have been attacked. What possible reason could I have for trusting you?"

"Very well. I will contact the ICW to arrange a councillor for you. Now, what about these charges against Madam Umbridge?"

Harry took a breath, he wasn't convinced about Bones yet. She seemed to have a little too much pride in herself and unwilling to admit she was wrong. Just not as badly as Fudge.

"Professor Umbridge has been using torture on me." He stated as he held out his hand. Fleur had made a cut on his other hand to show him how to heal it but had insisted he not heal the words until seen by a member of Law Enforcement. They had already sent pictures to the ICW.

Bones flinched. "And just how is she supposed to have done this?"

"With a special quill. She made me write in my own blood."

"And you have proof?"

"Beyond my scars and my willing testimony under veritiserum? No."

"For Merlin's sake Amelia! Why are you being so obtuse?" McGonagall demanded. "Get the boy his ICW advocate and his veritiserum! In the meantime we should search the Professor's office for these blasted quills!"

"I do not have the authority to go rummaging through the Under-Secretaries belongings, Minerva!" She countered heatedly.

"Would you like to see my memories?" Harry asked quietly.

"What?" Bones asked, nonplussed.

"My memories. Professor Dumbledore has a pensieve."

"Indeed, you are welcome to avail yourself of it." Dumbledore spoke up for the first time in the meeting. Harry was not pleased with the man. He had refused to look at him throughout the entire conversation and acted as though he wasn't there.

After a quick tutorial, Madam Bones descended into the memory.

She returned a few minutes later looking very pale.

"That was not your detention."

Harry was a picture of innocence. "Oh, did I use the wrong memory?"

"You know damned well what memory that was."

"And is there a problem with me showing you that memory?" Harry countered, his tone hard. "Or would you rather not know the truth that Fudge and Umbridge are trying to cover up?"

Harry scooped out the memory and replaced it with the detention. "That's the proper memory, I promise."

"Merlin's Beard! Blood quills!" Bones breathed as she exited the memory.

"I want that woman out of this castle!" McGonagall raged.

"We can't!" Bones retorted. "She is out of our reach!"

"And when she tries to use them on your niece?"

Bones sat down angrily. "All I can do is remove Susan from the school. I have no power to touch Umbridge." She scowled.

"So she is to run rampant amongst the children? Scarring them for life?"

"I have no power." Bones repeated quietly.

"What about the rest of the parents? How many of the Wizengamut have kids in this school?" Harry asked.

"Mister Potter, in order to be able to arrest or sanction Delores Umbridge in any manner would require removing Cornelius Fudge from Office. How would you propose we do that?"

"Isn't he an elected official?"

"Yes, by the Wizengamut."

"How about I talk to the press and the public?"

"Harry, I do not think that is a wise idea." Dumbledore spoke up.

"Why?" Harry was a little annoyed that he was finally adding something to the conversation just to tear him down.

"It is too dangerous for you to be out and about."

"Really? More dangerous than Umbridge? Voldemort doesn't seem to want people to know he is back, I can't see him breaking cover just to kill me." He scoffed.

"There are others who would wish you harm." He scolded gently.

"Yes, and most of the more dangerous ones are currently living with me in this castle."

"Oh?" Bones queried.

"Draco Malfoy is constantly attacking me verbally. You saw his father in that memory, how long before he follows him properly? Not to mention the other Death Eater children. How about Snape?"

"Professor Snape, Harry."

"Snape has been attacking me in some form or other since the day I met him. Let's not forget Umbridge though, shall we?"

"Which, I have stated, I can do nothing about." Madam Bones reminded him.

"But I might be able to, if certain people would actually help me." Harry retorted with a pointed look at Dumbledore. "Or are you willing to let her do this to the other students as well, Headmaster?" He asked brandishing his scarred hand.

"If he won't, I will!" McGonagall declared vehemently.

"If you are adamant about going through with this, then I will do everything in my power to help and protect you, Harry." Dumbledore said sadly. "But I will continue to try and persuade you from your course, it is far too dangerous."

"Only to me."

"It is you I care for, Harry."

Harry saw the sad and pleading look, and realized that Dumbledore meant every word. "Thank you, Headmaster."

"As touching as this is, it is pointless. Fudge will have us thrown in Azkaban the second he gets wind of it. The man is paranoid!" Bones argued.

"So what? We let him get away with what he is doing?" McGonagall demanded.

"For now." Dumbledore confirmed. "We must bide our time and wait for the right moment to strike."

Harry thought this was wrong. He knew there had to be something better he could be doing, something to show people the truth.

Harry spent his time between classes, lunchtime, dinner time and the evening recounting his meeting for his classmates. Hermione was impressed.

"What made you think of filing charges?"

Harry smirked to himself a little. "It just sort of came to me." He told her, thinking of how Fleur had appeared under his bed.

"I thought you hated the fame, you know the Prophet is just going to twist your words." Ron pointed out.

"I do hate it. But if I don't do something, Umbridge and Fudge will start doing this to other people." Harry explained. "As for the Prophet, I am going to make it known before hand that I am going to be speaking. I will do it in the evening and invite everyone in the wizarding world to hear me and I will invite the WWN." Harry breathed out nervously.

"Blimey, Harry! That's a lot of people! Where you gonna do this?"

"Hogsmede, in the town square. Diagon Alley is too narrow to accommodate everyone."

"How long do you think it will be before we see any changes?" Hermione asked.

"We might not see any changes." Harry warned. "The most we can expect to see is the ICW placing embargos and sanctions on Britain."

Hermione frowned at Harry.

"What?" Harry asked, he wondered if he had something on his face.

"Since when are you so savvy with regards to trade and politics."

Harry sighed internally, Fleur was responsible for teaching him these things. Veela were well versed in human behaviour, many going to work in medicine. She had given him a very simple excuse for this sort of question.

"Since it became relevant to me."

Once he was sure his dorm mates were all asleep, and snoring in Ron's case, he grabbed his cloak and made his way to the Room of Requirement. When he arrived he found Fleur dressed in a nightgown and robe and sleeping on the sofa in the drawing room.

He really didn't want to wake her. Fleur was astoundingly beautiful, but like this, she was so peaceful, like a sleeping angel. He felt guilty for just being in her presence.

He turned to leave the room and go to the study when he heard Fleur shift positions and stir.

"Harry?" She asked sleepily.

"Y-y-yes Fleur. It's me." He confirmed. "I can come back later."

"Non, I'm awake." She assured him as she stretched her arms above her head. Unfortunately this caused her robe to fall open and reveal that her night gown was just a tad sheer.

Harry's eyes shot to the floor. But he realized that he could still see her. So they shot to the ceiling. The ceiling was safe. He could look there.

He heard Fleur giggle. "It's ok Harry. You can look now."

Carefully, Harry lowered his face, making sure to keep his eyes on her eyes. She laughed and stepped forward, pulling him into her arms. "Such a gentleman." She teased. "Come, tell me what happened." She said as she pulled him to the couch.

Harry was highly unnerved when Fleur snuggled up against him. He was highly aware that only two thin pieces of material separated him from a very naked and very beautiful girl.

"I-I-I-"

"Harry? What's the problem?"

"Erm… n-no problem." He shook his head vigorously.

Fleur just smirked. She knew exactly what the problem was, and she was enjoying the effect she was having on him. Allure or no allure.

Especially no allure.

"Then tell me what happened."

Harry closed his eyes and tried to focus on the events and not the very soft areas of Fleur's body he could feel.

"I told them everything you suggested." He said quickly. "But Bones said she didn't have the power to touch Umbridge."

"And you suggested your public intervention?"

Harry had a distinct look of distaste. "Yes."

Fleur frowned and deliberately shifted her body against Harry, causing him to tense slightly.

Harry's eyes slammed shut in concentration. "McGonagall was more supportive than Dumbledore. She really wanted to get Umbridge out of the castle, she even pointed out that Bones' niece might be a target."

"Then we will just have to be careful in the meantime." Fleur stated as she rested her head against Harry's shoulder.

"What if she attacks others though?"

"Ah, my noble Harry." Fleur smiled contentedly. "I already gave you the knowledge to heal and prevent Umbridge from hurting you, now you can teach others. Teach people from each house and tell them how far Umbridge is willing to go and what they should do."

"What if they don't believe me?"

"Doesn't matter…" Fleur let out a huge yawn. "Just… teach them… the sp…llsss"

Harry craned his neck to look at the blonde head on his shoulder.

"Bloody brilliant." He muttered. After eleven years sleeping in a cramped cupboard, Harry knew that Fleur would wake up in pain if he let her sleep like that. Plus he wanted to sleep too.

He gingerly tried to pry himself out of Fleur's grip on his left arm. But it didn't matter what he tried he couldn't do it. So he tried to wake her.

"Fleur. Fleur!" She didn't budge. Harry was beginning to panic. What if she was ill, she wouldn't wake up! But then Fleur breathed in deeply and snuggled tighter into his arm.

He thought about trying to tickle her. Only he couldn't think of anywhere he could touch her in her current outfit without putting his hands in dangerous territory.

Then he noticed her feet. She was bare foot. He reached around her with his right hand quickly ran his finger along the sole of her foot.

"OW!" She had managed to knee him in the thigh. Hard!

He wasn't going to try that again.

He decided he would try and get her up to her bedroom, he could try and replace his arm with a pillow or something. He was so tired.

He carefully pulled her feet out, extending her legs, then hooked his right arm under her knees and stood.

"How can someone so small and light be so bloody strong?" Harry muttered to himself.

Unfortunately as Harry began walking to the stairs, Fleur adjusted her position so she was hanging from his neck and pushed herself so Harry's arm was now holding her buttocks.

"Lovely. Voldemort is gonna be pissed when he finds out I'm already dead. Killed by an irate Veela."

Harry trudged up the stairs sullenly. He was well aware that half- no all the boys in the school would kill to be in his position. But Harry had a deep sense of self-preservation. He was convinced this was going to be his last night on Earth.

He reached the first floor and suddenly realized he had no idea which bedroom was Fleur's. He also had no idea where the bedrooms were.

Harry groaned in frustration, he looked to the ceiling. "God, I don't know if you are listening, but any help would be great!" He prayed.

"Master Harry is needing help?"

Harry looked down to see Dobby standing there in eager anticipation. "You're God?"

Dobby looked a little worried. "Dobby is Dobby. Is Master Harry alright?"

"No. Fleur is latched onto me and I can't get her off. I can't even find her bedroom to put her down."

"Follow Dobby, Dobby knows the way."

Following his current strain of luck, Fleur had taken a bedroom on the top floor at the very end of the corridor. He was thanking God and Merlin that she barely weighed a thing.

He gently laid her down on the ornate four poster bed.

Fleur seemed to realize she was in bed and rolled over. Unfortunately she didn't release Harry and he went flying over her to land on her left side as she proceeded to half crawl on top of him.

"Dobby! Help!"

"Miss Fleur is magically bound to Master Harry. Dobby cannot change it." Dobby informed him, clearly distressed. "Dobby will punish himself!"

"No! No punishing! You can still help. Can you get Hedwig and some writing equipment?"

"Yes Master Harry, Sir!"

A few seconds later, Dobby reappeared with Hedwig on his head and a quill, ink pot and parchment.

He also realized another problem. Fleur was holding his right arm hostage. He needed that one to write with!

"Dobby, can you write a note for me?"

"House Elves is not being allowed to read and write." Dobby said, clearly ashamed.

Harry wanted to cry at the injustice of it all. At least Voldemort had been up front about wanting to kill him. Fleur had lured him into a different kind of trap.

Harry had Dobby place the ink and parchment on the bed next his left side and tried to write the letter. Unfortunately it didn't look anything close to English.

He decided to keep it short and simple and rewrote his letter.

HELP

FLEUR ASLEEP

WON'T LET GO

WON'T WAKE UP

POTTER

Dobby quickly attached the letter to Hedwig.

"If you really care about me, you'll get this to Mister Delacour immediately." Harry told his owl earnestly.

Harry was stirring from his sleep, mainly because someone was gently shaking his shoulder. "Master Harry! There is a letter for you!"

That was when Harry remembered his current situation. Which had changed slightly. Fleur was still stuck to him like the most beautiful leech in the world, but at some point he had fallen asleep and was now cuddling back.

"Ygggaah!" Harry tried to scoot away but Fleur just gripped tighter.

"Dobby!" Harry gasped. "The letter, open it!"

"It's a Howler, Master Harry."

Harry felt like crying, he was now going to get verbally abused by Fleur's father. Why didn't he just let the Dementors suck out his soul again?

"Just open it."

The room was filled with a loud male voice. "KISS HER!"

Harry frowned. He was not expecting that, he certainly wasn't expecting to hear humour in the voice.

"Dobby, are we sure that came from Mister Delacour?"

"Yes Master Harry. Miss Fleur's House Elf delivered the message herself."

"Oh god." Harry groaned. "Dobby, if I die, you get everything I own. Just give Ron my Firebolt and Hermione all my books."

"Yes Master Harry." Dobby affirmed. Although it was the same tone he used when answering any question.

Harry wasn't opposed to kissing Fleur. He found the idea quite appealing. But he was well aware of the possible consequences. Although, had this been a year or two earlier then Harry would have thought the consequences would be pregnancy and marriage. The Dursleys had told him that's what would happen, Sirius had set him straight. He hadn't been able to look anyone in the eye for two days.

Harry had a new conundrum. Fleur was snuggled into his chest. She was also very strong. He tried the easiest way first. He placed a nice long kiss on her forehead.

He waited.

And waited.

He didn't know why he believed it would be so innocent and simple. Resigning himself to his fate, he tried to wriggle down a bit so he could reach her lips. Unfortunately, Fleur took this as encouragement in her sleep and began wriggling back. This was pure torture.

"Screw it!" Harry bent down as far as he could and planted his lips on Fleur's and called upon every lesson and memory Sirius had shown him.

It had to have been working, Fleur was responding. But she wasn't stopping. She began crawling on top of Harry and working her tongue into his mouth. It then got worse. She shifted so she was astride him and began… grinding.

'If I'm going to die, I suppose this has to be one of the best ways to go.' Harry thought morosely. Harry wrapped his arms around Fleur's petite body and returned the kiss. He did try and shift her up so she was astride his stomach and not his… other parts.

Fleur's writhings became more frantic and Harry was getting worried, she was beginning to hurt him a bit. Eventually she tensed up, she seemed to spasm a few times before slumping back down onto his chest.

"What. The. Fuck!" Harry growled. She was supposed to wake up! Not get all… wriggly and then go back to sleep.

"Fleur!" Harry began shaking her.

"Un Moment." Fleur muttered in exhaustion.

"FLEUR!" Harry shouted.

"HARRY!" Fleur sat up abruptly in shock.

"At last!" Harry nearly sobbed in joy.

"Where are we? What happened?" Fleur asked.

"You tell me!" Harry retorted heatedly. "Last night you fell asleep holding my arm and I couldn't get you off! I tried to put you to bed but you just dragged me with you. I had to owl your dad for help. He then sends a Howler that says 'Kiss her' and nothing else. I kiss you and you become glued to my mouth, you were wriggling about on top of me and then you kind of went stiff before you collapsed and… Fleur? What?"

Fleur had been getting redder and redder as Harry recounted the night's events.

"I'm sorry Harry. I didn't mean to, I promise."

"I kind of gathered that. Just… you know, as long as you don't kill me."

"Why would I kill you?" She asked.

"Well you were… we were touching, I couldn't get you off." Harry explained. "We still are touching." He gestured to where she was still sat astride him.

"Oh… erm." Fleur gingerly peeled herself off of him.

Harry realized he was wet were Fleur had sat on his stomach. He quickly checked but saw it wasn't from him. "Fleur, are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"No, why?"

"There is some sort of liquid coming from you." He said pointing worriedly at the clear damp mark on his stomach.

Fleur suddenly realized that Harry had no idea what had happened. He was completely naïve about the situation.

She knew that Harry needed her to explain everything, including all the reasons for her being at Hogwarts for him. She just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon.

She knew she couldn't be mortified in front of him, this was essentially her fault, she shouldn't have fallen asleep with him last night.

Of course, she blamed him for being handsome and a wonderful person. It was only fair.

"Harry, don't worry, it's natural." She assured him. "Why don't you ask Dobby to get you a change of clothes whilst I go and wash up and I will explain everything to you."

Harry frowned but nodded as Fleur scooted off the bed and headed to the adjoining bathroom.

Harry was surprised that it was already the next day, he had managed to sleep through the night. Fortunately it was a Saturday so no one would miss him in class. Dobby had retrieved a clean set of clothes and now he was sitting in the Drawing Room waiting for Fleur.

He was surprised he hadn't noticed Fleur's approach as she sat down beside him.

"Harry, there is an additional reason for me being the one to come to help you. You see, my family owes you several life debts."

"Ok… I'm still not sure what those mean. Dumbledore said Wormtail owed me one because I saved his life."

"Yes, but this is different because you saved the lives of two Veela, my sister and I. Harry, Veela are sensual and sexual creatures. We live to find someone we can love and commit to. The life debts were affecting Gabrielle and myself. Our magic was calling out to you."

"To… love me?" Harry asked not really believing it.

"Gabrielle is only ten years old, she is far too young to be married, no?"

Harry just frowned and nodded.

"So the only other option was for me to fulfil the debts myself, on behalf of the family." She explained.

"How?"

Fleur shrank into herself slightly. This was it, the thing that had changed her life completely. "By giving myself to you."

"I really hope you mean the advice stuff." Harry said with a very frightened look.

"I mean everything about me." She said quietly.

"You don't mean a slave, right?" He was practically begging.

She sighed. "That will be up to you, to an extent. I have sworn on my life and my sister's life to serve you in any way that I can. You cannot control me directly, but you can withhold sex to coerce me."

"But… what about last night? How does that fit in?"

"That… that was the debt and my Veela instincts. When a Veela finds her mate she… becomes attached to him. Only a kiss can… break the enchanted sleep… we are the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty after all."

"But it didn't wake you up. It made you… you know!"

And here came the part neither of them were really ready for. "Normally, when a Veela awakens, she will… copulate… with her new mate."

"Huh?"

"Have sex."

"Ah…. What!" Harry was panicking now. "We just had sex? I thought-"

"No! Not yet." She assured him. "But… I am heavily imprinted on you. And… if we don't have sex… I will likely go mad."

"Fleur, no offence, but this sucks."

"It could be worse."

"Really?" He asked sarcastically. "Exactly how could it be any worse?"

"Gabrielle could be here and going through the same thing."

Harry paled. "Oh god." He then had a thought. "Does this mean we are married?"

There was a distinct look of sadness that fell upon her face. "No Harry. It just means that I am yours. In every way."

Harry frowned, that did not sound good. "Like a House Elf?" He asked cautiously.

Harry had been expecting… no, hoping that Fleur would get indignant and slap him around the face. He was terrified when she lowered her head even further and nodded.

"Miss Fleur should not be sad. Master Harry is the bestest Master ever!" Dobby popped in excitedly.

"Dobby, I've never been a master… never wanted to be a master." Harry pointed out.

"Harry Potter has been Dobby's Master since Harry Potter freed him for evil Master Lucy." Dobby said seriously.

"Oh god, Hermione is going to kill me."

"Harry… nobody has to know, if you don't want them to." Fleur offered hesitantly.

"How would that work?" He asked.

"You order us to act in a specific way or simply don't give us orders."

Harry liked that idea. Slaves in name only. But then he remembered something. "What about this sex or insanity bit though?"

"I… Veela need love, need to express that love. That's why I have been so… affectionate with you. I do love you Harry, but I need to express that love and have it reciprocated. Some of the need for physical contact can be mitigated with simple hugs and kisses, but with us being separated for the entire day… more is needed at night."

"So I have to learn how to do sex." Harry shuddered.

Fleur frowned at him. "Learn? Harry, sex is a natural thing, who exactly told you about sex?"

"My godfather told me my uncle lied to me. But… I'm not sure if Sirius was being completely truthful about it either." He admitted. "Sirius was a prankster."

"I do love you Harry." She told him earnestly. "You are everything I could ask for in a mate, but I want you to love me, and I will do everything I can to be someone you can love."

"But… I don't know anything about love. I never really knew my parents, never had friends before Hogwarts… how will I know when I am in love?" He asked sadly.

"I can teach you. It is my duty as your Veela to teach you." She told him with a happy smile.

"You can teach someone how to love?" He asked hopefully.

"Absolutely. Now, are you willing to help me or should I leave?" She asked worriedly.

"Help you what?"

"Sex Harry, I need to complete my bond with you."

"But… what happened earlier?"

"That was… not it." She blushed.

"And the alternative is you going mad?"

"Oui."

"Well… I did like the way you felt… despite the impending sense of doom." Harry admitted. "But there is no way I could let you suffer, I'll do whatever you need."

Harry was suddenly engulfed in a very happy Veela hug.

"Wait a moment, will what happened last night happen every time you fall asleep next to me?" Harry asked worriedly.

"No, I should wake up normally, your first kiss claimed me." She assured him. "But… I will need sex in the morning… it helps a mated Veela make it through the day without needing to be constantly touching their mate."

"Ok, but can you be more careful? You nearly bruised my stomach and what was the liquid?"

Fleur smiled fondly at Harry, he was so sweet and naive. "Harry, you will find that sex is very enjoyable. The liquid was… have you ever had a wet dream? Ever masturbated?"

"I don't know what those are?" He admitted.

"Have you ever played with your… penis and made it hard and liquid that is not urine come out?"

Harry blushed but also looked horrified. "I would never do that! That's evil!"

Fleur was shocked by the vehemence in Harry's voice. "Did your uncle tell you that?" She asked softly.

Harry then saw the flaw in his statement. "Uncle Vernon threatened to cut my penis off if I ever touched it like that."

Fleur began growling. Harry thought it was quite cute, but most of his attention was on the fire that had appeared on her skin. He rapidly began patting her down and trying to put it out. "It's ok Harry." Fleur assured him as the fire died down. "When a Veela gets angry they tend to do that… and develop bird features." She admitted slightly ashamed.

"You're not hurt?"

Fleur smiled, happy that he cared. "Not hurt, just angry. Go and have breakfast Harry, then come back here. I will teach you about sex and everything else." She told him.

"Harry, where were you?" Hermione demanded as he sat down at the meal tables.

Harry frowned. "I was busy. Had things I needed to do."

"Like what, mate?" Ron asked around a mouthful of toast.

"Just some stuff." He said evasively. "Private stuff."

"Private stuff? Harry, you're not getting into trouble are you?" Hermione admonished.

"Why thank you Hermione. Your faith and trust in me is very moving." Harry snapped sarcastically.

Hermione was taken aback by his response. "I'm only trying to look out for you!"

"Which means you need to know everything I do?" He asked pointedly. "How about you tell me everything you do?"

"If you wanted to know you only had to ask."

"Do you ever masturbate?"

Hermione's face went bright red in horror and mortification. "Harry James Potter! How dare you ask me that sort of thing!"

"You did just say I only had to ask." Harry still had no idea what masturbation entailed, but his uncle seemed to think it was evil and Fleur had implied it involved sex things.

"There are some things you just do not ask!" She hissed.

"Then why don't you remember that the next time you start demanding to know about every little thing I do?" Harry spoke very calmly and in a controlled manner. He had a suspicion it had something to do with Fleur. Normally he would have snapped at Hermione.

"He's got a point, 'Mione." Ron offered. "You did start it and he did say it was private."

"That's not the point! You should never ask a lady something like that."

"I don't really care, if you expect to be allowed to know everything about my life, you had damned well better be prepared to return the favour." Harry shrugged. "Now if you want to drop it, that's fine by me. But don't start blaming me for your mistakes." Harry grabbed some toast and left leaving a very irritated and angry Hermione behind.

Harry was sweating, smiling and completely sated. On top of him was a naked and sweat drenched Veela. If this was what sex was, then he had no problem helping Fleur out.

"Wow." He whispered in a daze.

Fleur just giggled making certain parts more active again. "You approve?"

"God yes!" He laughed as he threw his arms around her and rolled them over so they were side by side. "You really are beautiful." He told her before kissing her.

Fleur blushed prettily and smiled. "You are definitely my handsome prince." She kissed him back.

"We really get to do this every day?" Harry asked eagerly.

Fleur laughed as she buried her head in his chest. "Yes Harry. Every day, or I succumb to madness."

"I like the sex, but not the madness part." Harry said with a hint of worry.

"Then we will just have make sure we have our time together every day." She sighed as she snuggled into him. Fleur was well aware of what happened when a Veela and her mate failed to have their time together. Her father had been unable to make it back in time and Fleur had been terrified as she watched her mother fall apart. She never wanted that.

"Now, tell me what had you so angry and upset when you came in earlier."

Harry proceeded to tell her how Hermione had been so demanding and prying.

"Harry, I can understand and agree with you putting her in her place, she seemed to need it. But masturbation, whilst not being the evil your uncle told you, is a very private thing, if you ever bring it up make sure you are alone and no one else can hear you."

"She wanted to bring up my personal things in public." Harry pointed out.

"Yes, but you need to be better than her." She said firmly.

They spent their afternoon talking and… playing with each other. But Harry had another detention with Umbridge so he left for that, although there was no pain thanks to the numbing charm.

For the next few weeks Harry slowly learnt about love as he would sneak away at night to spend it with Fleur. They would make love and talk and Fleur began teaching him various mind arts and even managed to teach him apparition, the last one surprised Harry as Hermione had told him time and again that you couldn't apparate in Hogwarts. Fleur simply pointed out that you could usually apparate within an anti-apparition ward just not through one.

Harry also rebuilt his friendship with Hermione, he was unapologetic about his methods as he pointed out he really wasn't interested in knowing about Hermione's private time, just proving a point.

Fleur discovered that Harry had a distinct weakness when it came to occlumancy.

"You simply seem unable to keep anyone out!" She said in frustration. "Almost as though something destroyed any chance of you building a wall for protection."

"Does this mean I will never be able to protect myself?" He asked worriedly.

Fleur thought about this. Harry had no ability for passive defence. But he was exceptionally good at legilimancy.

"I believe you will need to take a different approach." She told him. "You may not be able to protect your mind but you can still detect an attack. You will need to learn to counter-attack."

"Won't the damage be done by then?"

"Not if you act quickly enough, besides, it is possible to erase any information taken by an attacker with a proper counter-attack."

"So how do I do this?"

"As soon as you feel the intrusion, you need to follow it back and begin scouring their mind for all their secrets, this will distract them. You see, when a legilimens instigates an attack, they lower their own defences. This leaves them wide open to a counter-attack, and having seen your memories, you will be able to perform admirably."

"Will I need my wand?"

"No, you will use their own connection against them." She pulled out her wand and pointed it at Harry. "Now, focus on the intrusion and follow it back. Legillimens!"

It was only a few days later that Hogwarts received even worse news. Umbridge had been made High Inquisitor, she would be auditing the professor's classes. It was amusing to see her put in her place by McGonagall, and seeing someone else annoy Snape was always a hoot, but even Harry couldn't stand by and watch Umbridge tear into Trelawney.

"Not even a small prophecy? Maybe tell me if I am going to enjoy my dreams?" Umbridge taunted.

"One does not command the Eye!" Trelawney declared, she was clearly nervous.

"And you're sure you are a seer?"

"She is." Harry sighed. "She rarely gives a prophecy. But she does try to teach Divination, which is not what being a 'seer' is."

"Mister Potter, your hand is not up and your opinion was not requested!"

Harry smiled. "Yes, but those are your classroom rules. This is Professor Trelawney's classroom. She encourages discussion. As I was saying, divination is where you look for signs in nature and the environment that give hints as to what the future holds. Being a seer is someone who is given visions of the future. A true seer does not remember their visions."

"And you are an expert on the subject?" Umbridge scoffed.

"It's actually in the first chapter of our text book." Harry smirked. It was fortunate that he complained to Fleur about his Divination classes. She had told him to ignore the old bat and read the book… which had proven far more useful, his toast had declared this would be an interesting day… so far it was right."

Umbridge decided to ignore the bane of her existence. "So you have no proof of any of your prophecies?" She mocked.

This time it was Pavarti who spoke up. "Actually, Professor, any prophecies she makes are magically recorded and stored in the Department of Mysteries, in a room called 'The Hall of Prophecies'. Rumour has it that there is a prophecy there regarding Harry Potter and the You-Know-Who." She ended in a whisper.

"I highly doubt that." Umbridge scoffed.

"We could always check." Harry said with a pensive frown. He hadn't known anything about a prophecy.

"The Department of Mysteries does not cater to the incessant whining of children!"

"How about the formal requests of a Nationally Recognised Wizarding Hero?" Ron scoffed.

"Enough! I will have no more interruptions!"

Strangely enough, the support from her students seemed to move Trelawney to actually teach the class properly. Harry was able to put his book down and actually pay attention to the normally batty old woman. Harry and his class now knew how to predict the weather with a great deal of accuracy. Now he just needed to be able to predict the reliability of the British Rail Service.

But there was still a gap in their education and Hermione and Ron were pushing Harry to fill it.

"They want me to start teaching the students Defence… even the NEWT students!" Harry told Fleur frustrated. They were both laying naked in bed late one evening as they prepared for bed having sated Fleur's needs. As far was Harry was concerned, he wanted to run off to a desert island where Fleur would never need clothes again.

"You do have the experience." She reminded him.

"I had luck!" Harry groused. "I keep trying to tell them that but they wouldn't listen."

"All the luck in the world won't do you any good if you don't know how to use it. You have a natural aptitude for magic, especially active spell casting which makes you ideal for Auror type work."

"You think I should do it too?" He asked feeling slightly ganged up on.

"I think you will do it. Simply because it is the right thing to do and because you won't let them go out defenceless." Fleur told him with a smile.

"Fine." Harry sighed. "Hermione wants me to meet a whole bunch of people for a secret meeting about it."

Fleur sat up and frowned. She then lifted the sheet to cover her chest as Harry had taken to staring, if she wasn't careful, he would start sucking and kissing and then they would never finish their conversation.

"Don't do this in secret. Secrets indicate that you are doing something that someone will think is wrong. You need to make this very public, speak to Dumbledore and ask him for use of the Great Hall or a classroom. Call it a defence club or study group. Somewhere to practice spells."

Dumbledore was more than happy for Harry to use the Great Hall and told him that as long as they were finished by meal times there would be no problems. Professor Flitwick was assigned as the staff liaison.

Hermione seemed rather put out that they were doing this out in the open.

"I had all these notes and sign up sheets written out! I had secret coins charmed so we could arrange meetings and no one would notice." She pouted.

"So now things don't have to be so secret. What's the big deal?" Ron asked. "We can still use all those things, we might need them. Be a great way to sneak around Umbridge."

"I suppose." She sulked.

"Wait a minute!" Harry jumped up, pointing an accusing finger at Hermione. "You were looking forward to breaking the rules!" He declared with a grin.

"What? Absolutely not!" Hermione said defensively.

Ron looked at her carefully. "Nah… Harry's right… you wanted to be a rule breaker… all those years of being a tightly wound, perfect student and your beginning to unravel!" He laughed.

"I am not!" She cried.

"It's ok Hermione." Harry patted her arm. "We'll keep your secret." He smiled teasingly.

The following day, Harry's plans were dashed and Hermione's seemed to be back on track as Umbridge had declared that all clubs, teams and groups were disbanded until approved by her. This also seemed to include Quidditch teams which caused Harry a lot of grief, Angelina, the current captain warned Harry about not angering Umbridge.

Harry had no intention of going anywhere near the toad woman.

Two days later, Umbridge stormed into the Great Hall after the evening meal to find various students casting magic, many of them were asking Flitwick or Harry for pointers.

"What is the meaning of this unauthorized gathering?!" She screeched.

"Gathering? My dear woman, you are mistaken." Flitwick informed her genially. "There is no gathering. The students merely requested a place where they can cast magic such as charms and transfiguration to perfect their skills. They can hardly use the library."

"Therefore they are gathering!"

"No, they are merely occupying the same localized area, they have no common leader or grouping, just the common desire to learn."

"And that is enough to class this as an illegal gathering." She smirked. She would play the half-breeds game.

"Oh dear." Albus said as he approached the pair of professors. "Perhaps the children should return to their dormitories to pack."

"What are you blathering on about, Dumbledore?"

"The students are here at Hogwarts to learn, but apparently learning is illegal. According to you." He said pointedly.

"I know what you are doing, Dumbledore." She said angrily.

"Yes, teaching. It's a wonderful calling." He smiled.

Umbridge seemed to steam on the spot before storming off.

Albus gazed around the room at the numerous eyes fixed on the former confrontation. "Carry on dear children, carry on." He beamed.

Many a student was deeply awed as they received personal instruction from one of the greatest wizards of their time as Albus Dumbledore delivered instruction where he saw a need.

Things actually managed to settle down in the run up to Christmas. Nobody really cared about Umbridge's lessons anymore as they received all the aid they needed in what was now called Study Time. Headmaster Dumbledore was often found wandering amongst the students teaching and correcting. Something that really irritated Umbridge.

Harry was walking down the hallway again. No, not walking, gliding. He had been here several times, Fleur didn't know where it was but had encouraged him to always check for a mental intrusion, but he couldn't find any. He suddenly saw his reflection in the shiny walls, he was a snake! This must be a dream, or a vision or… he had become an animagus.

It couldn't be an animagus as he couldn't control this body very well and he did feel more like a passenger… like when he saw Fleur's memories. He quickly began feeling for the connection into his mind but there was nothing there.

He noticed that he was approaching a figure, as he got closer he could see it was a man holding a lit wand. The snake rose up to strike as the man spun around and Harry tried to scream a warning as he saw the horror on Mister Weasley's face.

The snake struck once and Harry focused all he could on controlling the foul creature… the snake paused, frozen in mid strike as Mister Weasley lay shivering on the ground as it's poison worked its evilness.

Harry tested to see if he had control he tried to raise the snakes tail in front of his face.

'Perfect.' He thought. 'Now what do I do.'

Harry knew he had to get help for Mister Weasley, but he couldn't do that whilst in a snake's body. He was shocked when he suddenly found himself in bed being held down by an anxious Fleur.

"Harry, what happened?" She asked worriedly, her long blond hair falling as a curtain around him.

"Mister Weasley… he was attacked… by a snake… I was the snake!" Harry panted, he felt as though he had run a marathon.

Harry levered himself out of bed. "I have to tell Dumbledore."

Fleur didn't argue, she called for Dobby and they quickly had him dressed.

Fleur threw a dressing robe on before grabbing her invisibility cloak.

"You can't come, Dumbledore can see through invisibility cloaks." Harry warned her.

"No one can see through them Harry. There was a tracking charm on yours. I removed it at the start of the year." She told him without humour.

If Harry had had the time he would have been upset that the Headmaster had tricked him so. He had practically lied to him.

As they stumbled down the corridors Harry gave orders to Dobby to watch over Fleur in case he had to leave whilst Fleur supported him from under her cloak.

As they reached the gargoyle, Dobby stopped him and snapped his fingers causing Harry to glow briefly. "Master Harry smelled of Happy Time." Dobby explained in embarrassment.

It took Harry a few seconds to figure out what Dobby meant before he too blushed.

"I need to speak to Dumbledore, it's an emergency." Harry snapped at the guarding gargoyle.

Unfortunately the statue just sat there motionless.

"Dobby, can you move the statue or get us into the office?" He asked the elf.

"Dobby can get a message to Headmaster Dumbles." Dobby offered nervously.

"Great, let him know I'm here and it's a life or death emergency."

Dobby popped out leaving Harry standing there with an invisible Fleur. A few seconds later the gargoyle leapt aside and Harry stepped forward with a discrete hand touching Fleur's through the cloak.

"Professor, Mister Weasley was just attacked by a large snake I saw in a vision." Harry blurted anxiously.

"A vision, you say?" Dumbledore mused.

"He is dying Headmaster!" Harry nearly shouted as the man sat there.

"You are sure it wasn't just a dream?"

"Seriously? You're going to take that chance, why don't you just send someone to check on him! Call him up!" Harry ranted, he couldn't believe he was being given the Spanish Inquisition whilst a man was dying.

"Of course, of course." Albus said with slight embarrassment. He quickly gave orders to the portraits who reported back that Harry was correct but that help was on the way.

Albus ordered other paintings to alert Professor McGonagall and have her bring the Weasley children to his office.

"Can you tell me more about this vision, Harry?"

"Not really, I was sleeping and then I was suddenly in this snake sliding down a corridor, I tried to take control when it attacked Mister Weasley but then woke up." Harry shrugged.

"Take control?" Dumbledore queried.

"Like with the Imperious."

"Ah, something you have experience with, unfortunately." Albus said sadly.

The portraits soon brought news of Arthur Weasley and that he was on his way to St Mungo's. Professor McGonagall soon arrived with the rest of the red headed tribe and Dumbledore sent them by portkey to Grimmauld Place. Fleur kept a firm hold of Harry in order to tag along.

Immediately on arrival, Harry grabbed Sirius and took him aside. "Take me to your room now." He hissed.

Sirius looked at Harry with worry, he saw the urgency in Harry's eyes and nodded leading the way.

Once they were alone Harry sighed in relief. "Privacy, Sirius. As much as you can."

"This is a Pureblood house, Harry." Sirius gave him a careful look. "And I'm a Marauder. I've been adding and improving my rooms privacy spells since first year."

"Fine. Meet Fleur Delacour." He gestured to his side. Fleur revealed her head, keeping her body fully concealed. "She's a Veela and so is her sister. Both of them owed me life debts with their family from rescuing them last year. Fleur swore herself to me to fulfil the debts and then accidentally bonded with me."

"Congratulations?" Sirius offered, he had in no way expected this.

"Sirius. Listen very carefully." Harry marched forward so he was only a foot away from the man. "Fleur is Veela. If she doesn't get sex once every day she'll go mad.

"We'll need privacy for this.

"Also, no one can know. Not Dumbledore, not Professor Lupin, not Ron or Hermione. No one."

"Harry, that's asking an awful lot." Sirius frowned.

Harry took another step so he was nose to nose with the former prisoner. "If they find out and we are separated, then Fleur will go insane and die. No one can know about her."

Sirius didn't move. He just glared right back. "I. Don't. Care." He bit out. "You really expect me to sit around, knowing my darling little godson is having sex with one of the most beautiful women on the islands when I can't even go out and hire a prostitute?" He was wide eyed and manic.

"I'll get you some magazines."

"Not good enough!"

"I'll get you a Telly and some nudie films!"

That got Sirius' attention. "Deal. But try and get ones without guys. I don't want to see another man's twig and berries." He grimaced.

"If I have to do this, knowing what it will be used for… you can suck it up." Harry sneered.

Sirius looked ill and backed up, a hand on his chest. "Harry, please. Be more circumspect with your choice of words."

"Circum-"

"Enough! I give! I'll set you up in the master suite." Sirius had his fingers in his ears.

"Good. Please, both of you, keep each other company." He looked between his Dogfather and bodyless girlfriend. "Sirius, Fleur knows everything important about you, me, Wormtail and so on. Fleur, if he gives you any trouble… roast him.

"Any questions?"

"What are 'nudie' films?" Fleur asked curiously.

Sirius and Harry shared a wide-eyed look.

"We really should get downstairs and see if Arthur is ok." Sirius urged.

"Yeah. Dumbledore did take his sweet time checking on him." Harry nodded vigorously. He turned to Fleur who was looking to ready to ask more questions. "You stay here. But stay under the cloak. Hopefully we won't be long, if necessary I'll… say I'm sick or something."

As he spoke he strode up to her, kissed her on the mouth firmly and headed out the door.

Sirius was nervously shuffling out behind him. "Yeah… stay here. Feel to read or whatever." He then quickly closed the door.

Fleur just smirked. Did they really believe she was naïve about the porn industry? Whereas a Veela required one partner for life, their cousins, the Succubi needed many partners as often as possible. The porn industry was started by them in conjunction with like-minded Inccubi.

She jumped as the door opened harshly.

Sirius' headed poked in and looked around worriedly. "Don't look under the bed." He instructed before banging the door shut behind him.

Fleur knew exactly what was under there and she giggled maniacally as she skipped over to investigate.

It was nearly two in the morning before the Weasley kids were settled into rooms. Molly had tried to push Harry into a room with Ron again, but Sirius insisted on spoiling Harry.

Harry had shut Molly's argument down with one word: Snoring.

The pained look on the Weasley Mother's face showed she knew exactly what Harry was referring to.

Surprisingly, Ron was oblivious, but he wasn't going to object to a room all to himself. He never noticed the glares coming from the rest of his family.

In the morning the family, plus Harry, headed to St. Mungo's to visit Arthur. Harry was utterly exhausted. He had woken up extra early to make sure Fleur had her 'daily dose' as she called it. He hoped he wouldn't be back too late, but didn't want to risk anything.

On returning from the hospital, Harry made it back to his new room to find Sirius and Fleur sitting at a table and playing Scrabble.

Yes Scrabble.

Sirius looked fairly pissed and noticed Harry first. "Harry! Tell me the truth, you and Frenchie here have some sort of mind reading connection from the bond, right? Right?" He demanded.

Harry looked to Fleur and saw that she had covered the bottom of her face with her hand as she rested on the table with her elbow. She was clearly trying not to laugh.

"Not that I am aware of." He said carefully. "I didn't notice anything at the hospital… why?"

"Because there is no way a Frenchie should be able to beat a true-blooded Englishman at Scrabble." He glared accusingly at Fleur.

"Maybe her tiles were better for French words."

"We agreed on English only. It was supposed to be to help her practice." Sirius said sarcastically.

"How do you even know about Scrabble?" Harry demanded. "The only game I've seen magicals and muggles share is chess. Even then, muggle pieces don't move."

"Lilly told us of course." Sirius looked at him like he was an idiot. "It was a great fun game we could play when holed up during the war."

Harry took a breath to say something… but he stopped and looked at Fleur curiously. "Do you have French language and literacy classes at school?"

Fleur lowered her hand from her mouth and gave Sirius a smug smile. "Of course."

Harry looked at Sirius sadly. "There's your answer. She's got experience in learning her language in a structured way and has probably used similar techniques to learn English."

"Harry, I speak English." Sirius said slowly, he worried that the little bird had shagged his godson's brains loose. "Have done since I was a toddler."

"Yeah, but I've seen everything from Ron's essays to ministry forms." Harry said a little demeaningly. "British magicals can't spell."

"Pre-pos-ter-rous!" Sirius enunciated smugly.

Harry looked at him with tired amusement. "I said spell, not speak."

Sirius deflated.

Harry walked past Sirius to greet Fleur properly with a kiss. "How long have you two been playing?"

Fleur looked at her watch. "About two hours. I think he thought I would not know enough English to play Scrabble. Especially after I beat him at chess four times straight."

"Bah! You used your evil female ways to tempt my pieces into betraying me!" Sirius grumbled. "I'm going to see what the news is on Arthur." He then stomped off childishly.

Harry looked to Fleur curiously.

"I didn't cheat." She said primly, clearly having enjoyed herself. "But his pieces were upset that they were playing against me."

"So… you had a good day?" Harry asked.

"It would have been better with you, but Sirius was kept me distracted.

"How is Mister Weasley?" She asked with concern.

That concern grew as Harry's own expression turned a combination of dark and tormented.

"Mentally fine. Physically… he's poisoned and his wounds won't close so they are using muggle methods."

"There is something else, no?" She pressed gently.

Harry was clearly reluctant to talk, Fleur squeezed his hand and led him to the bed to sit.

"Mad-Eye- Ron heard him say that they think Voldemort possessed me."

Fleur looked at Harry for all of a second. "Ridiculous." She spat, causing Harry to jump. "He made you do nothing. He did not know you were there.

"If the snake was Voldemort then you were possessing him."

"Is that any better?"

"Oui!" She said adamantly. "You can see his plans, his secrets! 'E is at your mercy!"

Harry was a bit surprised that she was getting so excited about this. "I'm not sure that it's a good thing. I don't want to see him hurting people."

"Then use it to find him and capture him!"

Harry was still a bit conflicted about these revelations. He had brought Sirius in and the three had discussed it.

Sirius wasn't as enthusiastic as Fleur, but he could see her point. He simply suggested that Harry not try to push anything. If it happens then use it, but don't go looking for it.

The days passed somewhat boringly and frustratingly for Harry and Fleur. They couldn't exactly spend all day and night together without arousing suspicion. Sirius attempted to keep her company when Harry had to spend time with the Weasleys. Dobby also popped in to keep Fleur company as he felt she was a kindred spirit in that she was bound to Harry.

After Christmas, things took a downturn. Snape arrived at the home.

"I don't want Occlumency lessons." Harry frowned. "I-"

"Your childish whinings are of no interest to me, Potter." Snape spat. "Do as your told for once in your life!"

"I spent ten solid years doing what I was told." Harry said calmly. "Come to think of it, I've very rarely not done what I've been told." He mused.

"A disobedient, liar of a pampered prince." Snape sneered. "You have your instructions-"

"I won't be there." Harry shrugged. "I don't care what you have to say or teach me. As soon as I can get out of your classes the better."

Snape was furious and stormed up to Harry. "INSOLENT WHE-"

"Now, now Snivellus." Came the ice cold hatred of Sirius Black who happened to have gotten his wand to Snape's neck. "Do try to remember the facts. You are in my home. Harry is my beloved godson and all I have left to live for. I am a wanted criminal. You are a despicable excuse for a human. Try to realise that attacking Harry simply gives me ample reason to carry out my fondest dreams and gut you like a fish."

"Dumbledore-"

"Is not here and not in charge of Harry." Sirius interrupted smoothly. "Consider yourself barred from my home. Leave."

Sirius practically threw Snape at the door to the parlour, Snape barely kept his footing.

"One word, Black." Snape spat. "One word from me and the Dark Lord would know all your secrets."

Sirius just smiled evilly. "I'm a Marauder. This is the son of a Marauder." He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. "By the time he returns to Hogwarts then he'll know everything he needs to know so that the monster you love so much knows you betrayed him.

"A few poorly timed words in earshot of certain students should see your allegiance questioned and my life so much happier for it."

Snape actually paused at that. But then he looked at Harry with contempt. "The brat doesn't have the brains nor the cunning to put on his socks."

A flash of movement so fast that both older men nearly missed it and Snape was hanging upside down. It was one of the few non-verbal spells that Fleur had taught him.

A brief moment of surprise flitted across Sirius' face before he schooled himself.

Snape, however, was cursing and trying to find his wand.

"The Mighty Wizard… without a wand." Sirius declared mockingly.

Snape ceased his struggles and looked at the boy and his dog. Potter was looking at the wand closely.

"Give me my wand, Potter." Snape growled.

Harry looked up at him and then calmly took a seat on the sofa. "Why?"

"Damn you Potter! Release me this instant and GIVE ME MY WAND!"

"Why?"

Sirius slowly sat in the arm chair and observed what was happening. Truth be told, he was a little worried about Harry's actions. They seemed a tad out of character.

"Because I will kill you if you don't!"

"How?"

"DAMN YOU! Cease your feeble questions and release me!"

"Why?"

Snape's rage was suddenly doused with confusion. "Black, the boy has snapped." He actually sounded worried.

Sirius nodded. "Good possibility. Can't blame him really. If you think about it, it's a surprise he didn't do it earlier."

"Well maybe you should DO SOMETHING!"

"I am. I'm watching. Learning." Sirius winked at the fuming, inverted git.

"They were going to snap my wand."

The words, though spoken quietly and calmly, included the words that magical raised humans feared the most. 'snap my wand'.

Harry now had their complete attention.

Snape was now pale with fear as he saw the brat examining his wand very closely.

"You were a Death Eater." Harry looked Snape straight in the eyes. "You and Karkaroff were comparing your arms last year.

"You joined up with a murdering lunatic who killed hundreds of people, including my parents. Why didn't they snap your wand? I defended myself from two Dementors and they were going to do it to mine."

Harry maintained his stare at Snape.

Snape's eyes were fixed on his wand. It was beginning to bend more and more. "Just give me my wand and I will leave." He tried to remain calm.

"Yeah… but then what? I've had to suffer you for four years. You might not curse me in the back, but you'll definitely take it out on me in class and at every opportunity.

"So… why didn't they snap your wand?"

"Because I was important. Unlike some people." Snape sneered.

Harry leant back on the sofa and calmly dug a hand into his pocket. He pulled out the special utility knife that Sirius had bought him.

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Snape roared in fear and anger as Harry started carving into the wand.

Harry stopped after a few marks and returned to staring at Snape. Sirius was now worried as Harry's eyes had lost all emotion.

"So… why didn't they snap your wand?"

"What does it matter?! Albus Dumbledore spoke up for me! What more was needed?" Snape was now desperate.

"Why? Why did he speak up for you?"

"That is between me and Dumbledore you insolent brat."

Snape began shouting again as Harry started carving into his wand again.

"I GAVE HIM INFORMATION!"

Harry kept slowly carving. "What information?"

"About the Dark Lord… please, give me my wand."

Harry stopped carving and looked back into Snape's eyes. "Specifics."

"I can't tell you."

"Why? Who am I going to tell? Voldemort wants me dead. He's been trying for the better part of four years."

"The Dark Lord can read your thoughts."

"He told you this?"

"Yes."

The hesitation was so slight, but it was enough for Harry to tell Snape was lying.

"DUMBLEDORE SAID SO! THE DARK LORD DOESN'T KNOW ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION!"

Harry stopped carving and examined his work. He then looked back up at Snape. "Just so we're clear." Harry began with that same calmness. "You are the Order's spy against Voldemort?"

Snape just nodded once.

"And all it takes for you to crumble… is a boy, playing with your wand."

Sirius was shocked by that revelation as he saw the guilt on Snape's face. He remained silent though.

"My advice for you is to run." Harry continued. "Run far away and hope that Voldemort doesn't find you. Once the rest of the Order finds out you squeal so easily, how will they be able to trust you haven't betrayed them before?"

Harry waved his wand and cancelled the spell holding Snape up. There was a horrible thud. Harry tossed the wand back at the man. "Get out. Do not let me see you again. I'm beginning to get tempted to live up to the ideals the Daily Prophet has for me."

Snape was on his feet in an instance. "Incarcerous!"

Snape was flummoxed. He looked down the end of his wand to figure out why nothing had happened.

*snap*

Snape's blood ran cold as he looked at Potter. In the boy's hands was his wand. Both pieces.

"Four years, Voldemort has been after me. Four years I've suffered at your hands and the schools. Did you really think I wouldn't learn a few lessons?"

Harry was suddenly lit up with a red light and he slumped back onto the couch, unconscious.

Snape lunged at him, intent on killing him.

He made it an inch before he too was hit by the stunning spell.

Sirius just sat there. Wand in hand.

He had two problems. He needed to help his godson before the country drove him insane. He also needed to get rid of Snape.

When Harry awoke the next day, it was very late. Any thoughts of the previous night were banished as he immediately noticed Fleur was extremely agitated.

He didn't bother asking what the problem was, he just crushed his lips to hers and demonstrated everything he knew about love that Fleur had taught him.

It was nearly midday when Sirius knocked on Harry's door. Harry was exhausted but Fleur was out cold. They went back to Sirius' room to talk.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius asked with concern.

"Raw."

Sirius' concern fled at the slight humour he detected in Harry's statement. "You remember last night? You snapped a man's wand."

Harry sighed and flopped onto the bed. "I had to. I had to protect Fleur. If Snape had seen my memories… Fleur says I have no chance of using occlumency. He would know everything unless I could defeat him with a counter attack.

"I'm raw and sore because when I woke up I found out I had overslept. Fleur and I usually have sex morning and evening-"

"Harry, please. You're either bragging or tormenting me or both… please stop." Sirius sobbed.

Harry ignored him. "I wasn't awake so we could have sex last night and I slept longer than usual this morning. Fleur was not doing well."

"Does she need medical attention?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"I hope not." Harry did look worried.

"We'll finish here and then I'll double-check." Sirius promised.

Harry jumped in fright as something tugged at his trousers. Fortunately it was just Dobby.

"Miss Fleur is just tired. Mister Del-a-cour says it is natural. He is saying that Miss Fleur can have her elf look after her."

"You've spoken to Fleur's dad?" Harry asked in surprise.

"Miss Fleur is important to Master Harry." Dobby said firmly. "Dobby be knowing how to look after humans." He then looked ashamed. "Miss Fleur is Veela."

"You did good Dobby." Harry smiled at him. "Why don't you ask Mister Delacour if Fleur's elf can come and teach us about Veela and help look after Fleur?"

"Dobby will do this." The little guy said resolutely before popping out.

Harry flopped back down.

"Very few people can inspire that level of loyalty." Sirius said seriously. "James could do it. So could Lilly. Dumbledore has been doing it for nearly a hundred years."

"It's just Dobby. He's just grateful for me getting him away from Malfoy."

"Well, you are wrong. But it isn't necessary to argue about it."

"Yeah." But Harry wanted to. "What happened last night? I figured you stunned me."

"You needed it." Sirius admitted. "I could see you were at your wits and as ready to snap as Snape's wand."

"What happened to him? Did he go whining to Dumbledore?"

"No. I've… disposed of him." Sirius said diplomatically. Regardless, Harry shot up right in fear. "Relax, he's still alive. But I wiped his memory like Lockhart and sent him to a country far away.

"He wasn't worth having around. The information he got from… Voldemort… it wasn't enough to justify his treatment of you or me, or the trouble he caused with other Order members."

"And Dumbledore?"

"I didn't consult him. He won't approve and will probably be extremely upset. It won't change anything."

"Should I expect more yelling?"

"No. If anyone questions you about this, then either send them to me or leave without saying anything to them."

There was a few moments of contemplative silence as Harry lay on the bed and Sirius leaned against the door.

"I hate this. All of it. The country, the people, the school."

Sirius grew a little concerned as Harry's tone returned to what it was the previous night.

"I spent ten years being treated as badly by the Dursleys as Dobby was by the Malfoys. Then Hagrid comes along and tells me I have an all access pass to heaven.

"By the end of the year I had suffered at least two attempts on my life and the hate of people like Malfoy.

"To make things even worse, I had to go back to the Dursleys… and it was the magical world that put me there in the first place."

Sirius said nothing. He wouldn't know where to begin.

"They call me the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. They say I am a hero for saving them from Voldemort. But whilst they are all happy and celebrating, their 'hero' gets sold into slavery.

"Great way to say 'thanks'."

Sirius walked to the bed and pulled Harry to his feet. "Come on, let's go and focus on someone who adores you."

Harry came down a little later for dinner, Dobby ensured that Fleur had everything she needed along with Fleur's own elf, Doudou.

Harry's chest clenched when he saw a stern Dumbledore waiting at the door to the parlour. "A word please, Harry." It was not a request.

Harry trudged into the parlour and sat on the large wing-back chair that Sirius favoured. It was the biggest and tallest in the room and was apparently reserved for the Head of House.

Dumbledore frowned at Harry's choice of seat but quickly conjured his own matching chair. Harry smirked at him. Sirius had been telling him all about pure blood ways. The chair was designed to make others feel inferior, clearly Dumbledore was just as susceptible to basic psychology as everyone else.

"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"No."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and sighed. "I have been made aware of what occurred last night. Perhaps you could give me your version of events."

"No."

"I must insist."

"So must I."

"Harry-"

"Where's Sirius?"

There was a slight scowl, Dumbledore was rarely interrupted by students. "I believe he was in the kitchen."

"Then I insist that he be present for this discussion." It was something Fleur had recommended when he and Sirius had checked on her. Apparently it was common practice for a parent or guardian to be present during important meetings with children. Even Sirius said he had a few stories of his father having to travel to Hogwarts to attend a disciplinary meeting for his son.

"Harry, we really must discuss what happened to Professor Snape."

Harry calmly stood up and headed for the door.

"Harry!"

Dumbledore was ignored. He stood up quickly and followed, not even taking the time to dispel his chair.

He found Harry speaking quietly yet furiously to Sirius. He was also not pleased to find the Weasleys and Lupin present.

"Dumbledore, I explicitly told you to leave Harry alone." Sirius said heatedly.

"I remember quite well, thank you." Dumbledore's demeanour was stern and actually frightening Molly and Ginny. The rest were stunned. "The fact remains that I need to get his story."

"For what possible purpose?" Sirius scoffed. "Are you going to take what happened to the aurors?"

"Sirius, do try and be sensible." Albus chastised. "You are fully aware that I cannot simply approach Madam Bones and claim you killed Severus Snape without explaining how I know."

"You killed Professor Snape?" Molly was aghast.

"You're Britain's Greatest Hero." It was spoken with quiet awe to Sirius… but everyone looked at Ron like he was an idiot.

Wisely, they ignored him.

"Telling porkies are we now, Albus?" Sirius asked mockingly.

"Sirius Black! The Headmaster would never-"

"Mrs Weasley, this is a family matter. Would you please excuse us?" Harry requested firmly yet politely.

Molly was taken aback. She'd never been in this situation before. "Harry, Dear, maybe I should stay-"

"This discussion is private and personal to both myself and Harry, Molly." Sirius was every ounce the pure blood. "Albus Dumbledore has just laid serious accusations against the houses of Black and Potter. In the event he manages to leave without blood being spilled, it is likely that we will require a mediator of complete neutrality as his actions are amounting to a blood feud."

"Sirius-!"

"Molly." Albus halted her quietly.

"Everybody out." Bill said with sternly to his family from where he had been sitting at the table observing. "Mum, you too." With Molly, he physically guided her out, grateful that she was too stunned to object.

The door closed and Albus calmly took a seat at the table. "A blood feud, Sirius?"

"You accused me of murder. You ignored my instructions to leave Harry alone and you ignored Harry's request to have me present when you disobeyed me." Sirius said calmly. He remained standing with Harry by the sink.

"Ignoring the fact that you may as well have murdered Severus and that Harry is under my care, none of that warrants the declaration of a blood feud."

"Harry and I are the last of our lines. Your actions could lead to the extinction of our houses."

"Let us focus on the real issue here." Albus tried to take back control. "You have essentially killed Severus Snape. A professor at Britain's premier school of magic and a vital and loyal member of the fight against Voldemort."

"First, he's not dead. He's out there somewhere. Time will tell if he is capable of being a decent person, but we'll never know. Second, don't try that bullshit with me Albus. I know you only hired him as a professor to save his slimy arse from Azkaban."

"And what about his role in the war?" Albus pressed.

"He attacked Harry. The one prophesied to defeat the noseless bastard."

"You told him the prophecy?!" Albus was aghast.

"If you are asking if I told my son that he was the subject of a prophecy that got his parents killed and has had a madman attempt to kill him twice, then yes."

"Four."

"What?" Sirius turned to Harry.

"Maybe more." Harry shrugged self-consciously.

"Sit down and explain. Now." Sirius ordered.

"This can w-"

"Shut Albus. What happened?" He asked Harry.

"Erm, first year, Quirrel had Voldemort possessing him-"

"Quirrel?"

"He was our Defence Professor in first year." Sirius nodded for Harry to continue. "He tried to curse me off my broom. Hermione and Ron saved me."

"As did Professor Snape, Harry."

"Shut up, Albus." Sirius bit out, drawing his wand.

"Erm, by the end of the year he had gone after the Philosopher's Stone. Hermione, Ron and I went after him-"

"Wait, sorry Harry, but why didn't you just tell a teacher?"

"We did! McGonagall wouldn't listen and said Dumbledore was in London."

Sirius buried his head in his hands. "Hold up, Harry. Kreacher!"

"The mudblood lover-"

"Get me parchment, quill and ink from my study, now." He had no intention of listening to the elf's insults.

The elf vanished and the requested items appeared in front of Sirius. "Just give me a minute."

It was two minutes of uncomfortable waiting for Harry before Sirius had finished.

"Right, you went after Voldemort. What happened?"

"We had to get past a giant Cerberus, Devil's Snare, a locked room with flying keys and broomsticks. Then there was a giant chess set. Ron got knocked out there when he sacrificed his piece. Hermione and I went on. There was a troll, but it was unconscious. Finally there was a doorway of fire with a row of potions and a riddle.

"Hermione solved the riddle but couldn't come through as there was only enough potion in one bottle.

"After that I found Quirrel and Voldemort staring at the Mirror of Erised. I was caught, somehow got the stone and Voldemort and Quirrel died when my skin touched his-"

Harry looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "You killed him?" Sirius asked gently.

Harry just nodded. "But not on purpose!"

"Relax. Bad guys are meant to be killed." Sirius squeezed his shoulder. "What happened to the stone and what did the aurors say?"

He nodded to Dumbledore "He said that Flamel agreed to destroy the stone."

Sirius snorted. "Sorry, go on."

"That's all I know."

"You didn't speak with the aurors?" Sirius asked.

"I woke up in the hospital ward and Dumbledore said everyone knew what had happened."

"How many people talked to you about it? Friends, classmates… ?"

"Just Ron and Hermione." That sounded off even to Harry. Being older and with hindsight, a bunch of school kids hearing one of their own had killed a professor would mean Harry would have had to have told the story a thousand times. He would have heard about it for the rest of his school life.

Sirius wiped his hand down his face in exasperation. "Alright, if that is all of your first year, it accounts for two attempts on your life. Wh-"

"Wait, there was also the bit in the Forbidden Forest where Voldemort was feeding on unicorn blood. I was saved by a centaur."

"You… How… "

"I was serving a detention with Hagrid that night. Malfoy, Neville and Hermione were there too."

"Detention?"

"Yes."

"At night?"

"Uh huh."

"The Forbidden Forest?

"Whhhyyyyy?" Sirius practically whined.

"Apparently they knew something was hunting unicorns and McGonagall had us helping Hagrid track them."

"That does it." Sirius picked up the parchment, ink and quill and tossed them over his should, the ceramic ink well shattered sending ink everywhere. He focused on Harry. "Were there attempts in your second year?"

"Voldemort's memory possessed Ginny, he used a basilisk to petrify people. I killed the basilisk and the memory." Harry felt sure that he was going to be in trouble for this.

"Third year?"

"We thought you were after me. The Dementors definitely were. They attacked me in the middle of a Quidditch match… also on the train to school."

"And I know about your fourth year." Sirius grumbled. He looked at Harry and wondered how the poor boy was both alive and sane. However, it was clear to Sirius that Harry's sanity was crumbling with all he was going through. "Harry, you did good. You are a knight in shining armour.

"Head up to your room. I need to have words with Albus and you don't need to hear me screaming and swearing." He gently pushed Harry off the chair.

Harry found himself having to give a repeat accounting to Fleur as she couldn't help Harry if she didn't know what happened. Harry wasn't sure what the big deal was that made Sirius send him out.

"Harry, when a person dies, the authorities must be notified." Fleur explained. "Even if it is natural. The authorities need to know that this person is no longer a… 'citizen'. They won't pay taxes, vote in elections. It helps prevent people from stealing their identities… like that Moody, last year."

"Oh."

"And he didn't report that students were being attacked?" She scoffed. "More than ten students over the course of a year are petrified and he does nothing."

"Fudge did turn up. Idiot arrested Hagrid for no reason." Harry scowled.

"But Dumbledore didn't report that it was a basilisk! A thousand-year-old, 60 foot basilisk would be international news!"

"SIXTY FOOT?!"

Harry leapt off the bed at the outraged shout. Sirius was fuming at the door. "I served twelve years in Azkaban for crimes I didn't commit. I am sorely tempted to actually earn those years by killing Albus Bloody Dumbledore!

"It's a bloody shame I just kicked him out." He finished with a pout.

"Everybody wants me dead." Harry groaned as he flopped back on to the bed.

"Son, I'm going to do something that you will love, hate and yet make your life so much better." Sirius declared as he pulled a chair over to the bed. "I'm withdrawing you from Hogwarts."

Harry raised an eyebrow, not moving from his position on the bed. "Is it me being arrested for truancy that I'm gonna hate?"

Sirius just grinned.

Harry raised his head to look awkwardly at his godfather. "I hate that look. How can you, a wanted criminal, withdraw me from school?"

"Because I'm your godfather." The grin remained.

Harry let his head drop.

"Kid, when godparents are chosen, they take an oath and it is legally and magically documented at the Ministry. The oath is magically binding."

Now Harry was interested and sat up. "If that's true, why didn't that information clear you of betraying my family?"

Sirius shook his head, his smile a little dimmed. "Because it only applies to you. The court would have argued that I made a deal with snake face to spare you to raise as my own."

"So what? You write a letter and owl it in? End of story?"

"Exactly. I include the appropriate information stating that I will provide adequate tutoring in order to complete your education on society and magic."

"And the Ministry is just going to go along with this?"

"They won't exactly have a choice. A godparent fulfilling his duty in absence of birth parents has full authority. They can contest it and try to get you back, but it won't be legal.

"Besides, we are under a Fidelius."

"Isn't Dumbledore the Secret Keeper?" Fleur asked.

Harry turned white and so did his godfather. "We've got to get you out of here!" Harry said frantically as he leapt from the bed.

Sirius pushed him back down by the shoulders. "Relax. It is unlikely that Dumbledore would betray us. He wouldn't be able to explain it to the Order. Besides, this house was protected with enough magic to withstand an army. There is a reason that families like the Black's and Longbottom's estates are still standing."

"Longbottoms? But Neville's parents were…"

"I know." Sirius said sadly. "I found out from Remus that Frank and Alice were caught separately after you defeated Voldemort back in '81.

"Everyone thought it was safe for them to come out of hiding. Neville was lucky. His parents left him with his gran, people always say Voldemort only ever feared Dumbledore." A malicious grin spread across the escaped convict's face. "I think he went after you instead of Neville because he was too chicken to face Augusta."

There was a knock on the door. Sirius rushed to grab the handle as Fleur rolled off the bed and underneath wrapping herself in Harry's cloak as she went.

Harry didn't move.

Sirius opened the door. "I thought I asked you to leave." He growled at Dumbledore.

"You did." Albus answered calmly. "But I remembered one more thing that I was asked by the Ministry to address as Harry's Headmaster.

"These are the notices for Harry informing him that he can expect to have his wand snapped and be expelled from Hogwarts for the use of underage magic out of school." Dumbledore handed over the envelopes.

"There's no address."

"Obviously." Dumbledore said with a dryness Harry never expected from the old man who always portrayed himself as old and dotty.

Sirius shrugged and slapped them onto the old man's chest. "If they can't find him, how would they expect you to?"

"Wait, how did they know I did magic?" Harry sat up straight. "You said that the Ministry can't detect magic done by kids in magical homes and areas."

Sirius was instantly concerned. He grabbed the letters back and tore one open to read it.

"You are quite correct, Harry." Dumbledore frowned. "I am most peeved that I missed that detail. Would you mind standing over here? I wish to check you for foreign spells."

Harry made his way over. This development had caused a truce to on hostilities to be called.

Albus' face was a mask of concentration as he cast spell after spell on Harry. It was two minutes in and Harry was getting-

"Bloody hell enough!" He started rubbing himself all over. "Did you cast some sort of itching curse?" He grumbled.

"My apologies." Albus winced. "I had not expected to have to cast so many detection spells. I would have warned you that the build up of magic can be… uncomfortable. In my defence, I rarely cast spells on people, usually I work on charmed and enchanted objects."

"Did you find anything or should I just go and shower with his shampoo?" He pointed at Sirius.

"You have a special shampoo?" Albus asked the former convict curiously. "Is it a conditioner, perhaps? I have long searched for a soap that will leave my-"

"He's saying I use a flea shampoo because I'm a dog, Albus." Sirius rolled his eyes.

Dumbledore just smirked triumphantly. "I am aware. I just wanted you to say it."

"Listen old man, unless you want me humping your leg or dragging my hairy arse across your office rug, start talking." Albus opened his mouth. "No one said I'd be doing it as Padfoot." Sirius pre-empted.

Albus gave a little huff of discontent. "Someone has placed focused monitoring charms on Harry."

"Voldemort?" Harry asked.

"I would say no. But still, best not to rule anything out. Personally I think the Ministry is a more likely suspect."

"Umbridge? Sorry, but, she doesn't strike me as having the skill or know how to do this."

"Simply because she does not teach spell casting in her class does not mean she is unskilled with her wand." Dumbledore corrected. "There is also the fact that she could have ordered someone else to do it."

"And that's legal?" Harry asked dubiously.

"No."

"Right, can you remove them?" Sirius asked.

"I can."

"Can you replicate them?"

"Alas, the charms would be tied to an object that allows monitoring. Without access to the object I can only dispel them."

"We could set a trap." Harry offered.

"Too many questions will be asked." Sirius vetoed the suggestion. "Number one will be: How did you discover the charms. Which will lead to confessing you did break the law… essentially."

"I will remove the charms." Albus assured them. "It is perfectly illegal to do so considering their placement is doubly so."

"Yeah, give me a second." Harry muttered thoughtfully as he pulled his wand. He then began casting multiple spells at very low power at the floor. "Langlock! Episkey! Accio! Vento! Episkey! Multicorfors! Episkey! Accio! Langlock! Orchideous! Nox! Episkey!"

Harry finished, breathing heavily from both casting, speaking and emotion. He calmly picked up the bouquet of flowers he had conjured and placed them on the table.

"Is there a particular reason you added multiple counts to the ones already against you?" Dumbledore asked dryly.

Harry just shrugged apathetically. It was the look that Sirius hated to see on his kid. "A muggleborn would get it."

Dumbledore just sighed and began removing the monitoring charms. He then left, deep in thought.

"Well?" Sirius asked once he was gone and Fleur was climbing out from under the bed.

"I refuse to say." Harry said with a slight but tired smile. "You'll have to figure it out."

Sirius looked to Fleur who just shrugged, but it was clear she was curious.

Seeing that Harry didn't want to discuss it anymore, Fleur brought up another subject. "I think I can get Harry free from the English Ministry and get him some proper help."

Sirius pushed Harry onto the bed next to Fleur before retaking his seat. "Go on."

January came and it was time to head back to Hogwarts. Hermione had turned up on the second to visit the Weasley's and Arthur. He was extremely chuffed when she brought him a muggle alarm clock, a small toolkit and a book on how to maintain your car.

Hermione regretted it five minutes later as the rest of the family watched with sympathy as Arthur Weasley grilled the teenage witch like he wanted to know the launch codes to the country's nuclear arsenal.

In truth, he just wanted to know what the little cross headed pins with stripes were. Wizards didn't know what screws were, apparently.

It was Harry who had saved her by slipping out and giving Mrs. Black the bird. The outraged screams stopped everything in the house.

As everyone stampeded to try and shut the bloody harridan up, Hermione found herself pulled into the parlour abruptly. She let out a startled squeak but no one noticed.

"Harry! You almost gave me a heart attack!" She slapped the softly smiling boy.

"If you want, I can let you go back to Mister Weasley? Ow! Ow! Ow!"

Harry ran behind Sirius' wing-back to escape the assault. "This is how you thank me?"

"I'd 'thank you' if you didn't threaten to send me back!" Hermione huffed as she sat on the couch. "So what's this about Professor Snape going missing? All I heard before Mister Weasley…all I heard was Ron said you killed Snape."

"Technically he's not dead." Harry said as he sat in the wing-back. "And I didn't do it. Sirius did. He did a Lockhart on him and then dropped him somewhere."

"But why?" She asked, she really couldn't understand. Severus Snape was a professor after all.

"He attacked me. More than once. Well, tried at least. Sirius says I was unconscious when he tried the last time."

"Did you do anything to provoke him?" Hermione gave him that look that told that she knew him to damned well.

Harry thought about it for a second. "I saved Mister Weasley from death by poisonous snake."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Don't change the subject, Harry."

"I'm not! That's all I did. Snape came here and said Dumbledore ordered him to teach me occlumency. I said no. He was insulting and abusive and it all escalated."

"But why would you say no?" She asked incredulously. "Occlumency is a very useful subject, but it isn't one you really learn from a book. If Professor Dumbledore wanted Professor Snape to teach you then he must have been a Master."

"Hermione, how many times have I been in detention with Snape?" Harry asked.

"Far too many." She said disapprovingly.

"And how many have I earned?"

"Maybe one?"

"How many times has Snape insulted me in front of other students and staff?"

She gave an un-lady like scoff. "Every time he sees you."

"And what did I do to earn those?"

"I get it, Harry." She glared at him. "He is not a nice man."

"Then why would you, my best friend, insist that I should have submitted myself to occlumency lessons from him?"

Harry had no idea how he managed to be on the receiving end of that harsh glare and still be in the right by Hermione's own admission.

Whilst Harry knew what to expect when he stepped out of the door of 12 Grimmauld Place with Sirius' tail-wagging form at his side, he also had no idea what to expect.

"Police! Get on your knees and place your hands behind your head!"

Harry was actually expecting the police. But they still shocked and surprised him as members of SO19 approached with guns aimed at Harry and the dog.

"Sirius Black, we have an international warrant for your arrest. If you transform, or move we will open fire. Lie on the ground with your paws out and your muzzle on the floor." Ordered one of the armed men.

The massive dog slowly and carefully complied in assuming the submissive position.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Mrs. Weasley demanded as she tried to draw her wand.

"FREEZE!" Three weapons were immediately trained on her. "Draw your wand and we will be forced to open fire."

*BANG*

Screams echoed down the street and across the park opposite as Ginny, Ron and Molly screamed. Moody fell to the ground with a hole in is his only leg. He was cursing up a storm.

"I am Chief Inspector Billings, Special Branch." A stern man in a suit declared as he walked up with his identification displayed. "You are all under arrest for harbouring a wanted criminal. We are well aware that you are members of the magical community and that will be taken into account.

"Make no mistake, your little parlour tricks do not impress us and we would be happy to snap your wands if you decide to use them without permission.

"Load 'em up!" The Inspector barked to the armed police.

Molly Weasley was smart enough to not draw her wand, but not smart enough to keep her mouth shut. She spent the entire process of being searched, cuffed and loaded into the prisoner transport screaming about how they were being treated like common thugs and that her babies didn't deserve this.

"I'm an auror." Tonks stated as she was patted down.

"Then you had better have a damned good excuse for your actions regarding Black." One of the men stated flatly.

Sirius was being pushed into a large cage. He was still in dog form though so it wasn't too much of an insult.

"Mrs Weasley! For the love of god! We are guilty of harbouring a criminal! Will you please give it a rest?!" Harry nearly screamed in exasperation.

Mrs Weasley was stunned into silence at being spoken to in such a manner.

"Thanks kid." One of the officers snorted, he was honest about the thanks, just amused by the response of the woman.

"Make it up to me by letting me stay with Snuffles." Harry had a stubborn look.

"Snuffles?"

"Him." He jabbed a finger at the caged animagus. "He's my godfather and he's been imprisoned without a trial and threatened with execution. I'm staying with him to make sure he gets out of this alive."

"Kid-"

"He's the only family I've got left."

"He's a wanted mass murderer, son." Billings scowled.

"No. He's just wanted. He's innocent. I've not only met the bastard who did the crimes and framed him, but I've heard his confession and been tortured and mutilated by him in front of his… erm… boss."

"Sir, it's a titanium cage. We can stick an extra man in the transport with the kid and dog." The officer suggested.

"Regulations are not made to be broken."

"Neither are families." The man shrugged.

Billings glared at Harry and the officer, then at the last of the red heads being loaded in one of the vans. "If either of you mentions I allowed this I will make your lives hell." He wandered off muttering about 'going soft' and 'bleedin' hearts'.

"Load up the mutt!" The officer barked to his colleagues.

At first, Harry watched two of the men start loading Sirius in his cage.

Then he watched four men.

Finally he saw six men.

"I could try using my wand, if you'd like?" Harry was extremely embarrassed, so was Sirius from the way he was covering his eyes with his paws.

"We don't want to attract anymore attention at the moment." The officer grimaced.

*SCREEEEEEE*

They had finally gotten the cage high enough but now they had to deal with the noise of the cage grinding across the metal floor of the prisoner transport.

"God. The brass is gonna have my guts for that mess." The officer grimaced at the horrible gouges in the floor. "Lose some damned weight!"

Padfoot just whined offended.

"Get in kid." The officer instructed.

Harry climbed up and took a seat on the bench. They were soon driving off. Nobody was around to hear the small cracking sound.

"So you're the famous 'kid-who-lived', huh?" The officer grinned at him.

"And you're the guy who can't remember his research." Harry said dryly.

"I'm just teasing lad." He took no offence from the sullen teenager. "I just figure you'd prefer 'kid' over 'boy'."

"Which means people will always look at me and think 'child'."

"Not necessarily, you ever heard of Billy The Kid?"

"Uh huh, and just how many magicals do you think know about him? They're the ones calling me 'boy'."

"Then change the way you present yourself to people. Our intel said you're always very reserved and shy. When someone approaches you, look them in the eye. When you say tell people you name, give it some class; Potter, Harry Potter."

"I am not going to introduce myself like James Bond."

"Remember what you said lad, only the muggleborn would get it."

Harry just sighed. "So what's your name? Or should I just refer to you as 'Constable Chuckles'?"

The officer snorted. "Jeeze, ain't been a beat-walking bobby in nearly a decade."

"Billy the Bobby?"

"Andy. Andy Mackintosh." The newly identified 'Andy' glared at the clearly snickering Padfoot.

"Do you know what's going to happen now?" Harry asked, the fear was beginning to catch up to him as the adrenaline wore off.

"We are currently en route to a safe house. Your friends or, 'co-conspirators' are being taken to Thames House."

"Erm…"

"MI5." Andy gave that easy grin.

"Oh. Well, what happens at the safe house?"

"We get you settled once we confirm your girl is already there. Your pet mongrel here will need a to be processed properly." Andy sat forward and gave both boy and dog firm looks. "Do not object, complain or even speak, unless told to. We've all been briefed on the situation but we need to handle Black by the book. We have to make sure that every 'I' is dotted and every 'T' is crossed. We fail that and things will go spinning down the crapper bloody quick.

"Kid, you might not see him for up to two days. He's gonna be interrogated by both MI5 and MI6 agents. He has knowledge regarding threats to both Crown and Country and we need it to stop those threats."

Harry nodded slowly whilst Sirius just whined.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a while.

"Hey, Kid? Mind if I ask you a really personal question?" Andy asked, he was squirming a bit.

"Okay." Harry said cautiously.

"Well… we were briefed on your situation with the French bird. We've set you up in a private room so you should be fine."

Harry turned bright red.

"But, see, I'm just a regular muggle, as you say. I'm just curious, are you sure these Veela aren't what we mugs would call a succubus?"

There was a loud and obnoxious howl as the mangy mutt fell to the floor, clearly laughing and panting.

"Everything ok back there?" A voice called from the cab.

"Yeah, just the prisoner bucking for a neutering."

The dog froze and then huddled against the back of the cage, looking at Andy reproachfully.

"So, veela, are they-"

"No!" Harry was sure he was going to die from embarrassment. That would be bad as Fleur would die from madness. "There are both veela and succubi. They are like… cousins."

"Huh… so what's the difference then?" Andy asked. Neither noted the mutt now sitting up and paying attention.

"Erm, well… a succubus, or incubus, needs as much sex as possible, they can get it from anyone as long as they are given a- release, by another person.

"Veela don't need sex unless they bind themselves to someone. But if they have sex with someone they are bound to them. Most veela die virgins. They have to have sex with that one person they are bound to."

"Oh… well, that don't make sense." Andy frowned. "I've read the files on you and Delacour. You're both too sensible to have accidentally 'bonded'."

Harry opened his mouth… then closed it. "I think there were complications. There were several life debts involved. Fleur had come to help me and to fulfil the debts. We only bonded because she fell asleep next to me." Harry did not look terribly happy to remember that night.

"You're complaining about the fact you managed to not only score a bird like her, but also a girl who respects you?" Andy scoffed.

Harry turned on the bench to face him. "I was fully clothed when she fell asleep. She was in her nightgown. When the bonding happens they fall into a deep sleep. She was latched onto me and would not let go or wake up.

"Yes, I was a virgin. But I did know enough about sex that unwanted advances would have a bad response.

"I spent the entire night thinking she was going to kill me because she kept changing positions until she was locked onto my side."

"Still-"

"I thought she was sick because she wouldn't wake up." Harry continued, getting irritated. "I had to send a badly written letter to HER FATHER! I had to ask her father what to do."

"Yeah-"

"What does he reply with? A howler. With two words. 'Kiss her.'

"I was beginning to think this was Voldemort's way of getting me assassinated." He took a deep breath to calm himself. "Anyway, the kiss worked. She woke up and explained that Veela are the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty." He was not going to go into detail about what happened after the kiss.

"Would you give it all back?" Andy asked quietly.

"You are the dumbest idiot ever." Harry said dryly.

If Harry had been a regular teenage boy in a relationship with a girl, he might have been embarrassed when he was escorted into the safe house and immediately smothered by Fleur.

But Harry was just relieved that she was safe and close by. He didn't want her suffering again.

"Mister Delacour, could you give us a hand with the mutt?" Andy asked the tall, dark haired man who was watching the pair with amusement.

"Is he resisting?" The man frowned as he moved away from the gorgeous blonde who was also watching Fleur and Harry with joy.

"Not intentionally." Andy snarked. "He needs a diet."

"Andy, he spent twelve years being half starved." Harry called out, not moving from hugging Fleur. "He's just a great big dirty dog. Even a Saint Bernard would be heavy if half starved."

Andy just kept grumbling as he led the elder Delacour out.

"Fleur?"

The person in question jumped back from her boyfriend as though she'd been stuck with taser. "Maman!" Now the person in question and her boyfriend were turning bright red.

"Introductions, non?" The beautiful blonde who could easily be mistaken for Fleur's slightly older sister, said with clear amusement.

"Maman, zis is 'Arry Potter… 'e is… Âmes sœur." She said nervously as she gripped Harry's hand that it was getting painful.

"Merveilleux!" The woman beamed. "Now, you introduce moi." She gave Fleur an impish smile.

"Pardon mois." Fleur said hastily. "'Arry, zis is my muzzer, Apolline Delacour. The man 'oo just left, is my father, René Delacour."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Delacour." Harry gave a respectful nod. He would have offered his hand… but he was probably going to lose it soon if Fleur squeezed any harder. He was having flashbacks to that night when she wouldn't wake up.

"I am so 'appy to finally meet you, 'Arry."

He was suddenly in a very tight hug. But Fleur still held his hand in a vice. This was about to exceed the pain and awkwardness of 'that night'.

"You saved my daughters and, my family will always be in your debt!" Apolline exclaimed vehemently, her face buried in his neck.

"Maman!" Fleur hissed. "You are making 'im uncomfortable."

"Apolline, give the boy some room." René Delacour said firmly as he re-entered room, levitating the cage and mutt.

"Non!" Came the petulant response from Harry's neck. "We owe 'im everything!"

"Maman! Gabrielle is not zis childish!" Fleur was now getting embarrassed for other reasons.

"She is young. She will learn."

René rolled his eyes and marched up to his wife, he then jabbed a finger in her side causing her to squeal with laughter. It also made her release Harry as she tried to protect herself from her husband's assault.

"René Delacour, at your service." The man smiled as he held his hand out to Harry.

Harry looked at it cautiously.

Again, René rolled his eyes. "I promise to let go after we shake."

Harry kept his eyes, narrowed, on the older man as he reached out. "Your family has a strange habit of grabbing me and not letting go."

"Our family is yours!" Apolline said with a hint of indignation. "We will never let you go and we will always be ready to serve you."

"I thought Fleur was… fulfilling the debt by helping me?" Harry frowned. Internally he sighed in relief as René released his hand.

"Harry, you saved both of our daughters." René gave him a soft smile. "Even if magic had no say, Apolline and I would insist."

Deciding it would be pointless to argue when he was outnumbered three to one, he changed the topic. "What about Sirius?" He gestured to the black dog who was sitting up and looking at them curiously.

"Yes, Officer Mackintosh, if you would secure the doors?"

Andy nodded, but he didn't look too pleased.

As soon as his back was turned, René unlocked the cage and quickly gestured for Sirius to exit.

The large dog slinked out, transformed back into a wizard and threw a right cross at René.

Everyone winced. Sirius braced himself as Andy came up behind him and shoved him to the ground, cuffing him behind his back.

"Sirius Orion Black, you are hereby under arrest." Andy said gravely. "You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention now, anything you may rely on in court. Anything you do say will be given in evidence."

"I confess to striking Mister Delacour, but I am innocent of all other previous charges. These include the betrayal of the Potters, membership of the terrorist group known as 'Death Eaters' and the mass murder of Peter Pettigrew and thirteen civilians. I can prove in a court of magical law that I am innocent and that Peter Pettigrew is guilty and that he is alive." Sirius stated this calmly and emotionlessly.

"Your statement will be written down and entered into evidence." Andy nodded as he picked Sirius up to his feet. "Monsieur Delacour, as a high ranking member of the French Government, you have been attacked by a known terrorist and murderer. Mister Black was currently in British custody on the advice of Interpol.

"We apologise for our lax handling of his restraints and will contact your government through Interpol to establish a dialog on how to handle this incident."

"I admit partial responsibility for the incident and hold no ill will to you or the British police." René said formally. "I will contact my government and warn them of what has occurred."

"Aaaand we're done." Andy grinned as he unlocked the handcuffs. "Now we just wait for the spooks to come and interrogate him and then for a transport to Stanstead where we get flown to France."

"Sorry about the punch." Sirius said sheepishly to René.

The French man just glared at him. "You are lucky it even counts as assault! Did you even put any weight behind it?"

"I tried!" Sirius grumbled. "Do you know how hard it is to hit the man trying to save your life?"

"Nice plan Miss." Andy nodded to Fleur. "If things go according to the rest of your plan then Black here will technically be free by dinner. All that remains will be an official hearing and a rubber stamp!'

"Are you really a member of the French Government, sir?" Harry asked curiously.

René just smiled. "No, I actually work for Interpol. It is where Fleur came up with her plan to involve regular police. In order for this to work I have been briefly employed by the French Ministry of Justice as a Deputy.

"I will go back to my desk in Lyon by tomorrow."

"Uh huh. One last question." He turned to Fleur with a wide eyes looked. "What the devil happened to your accent?!"

Fleur had been embarrassed that she had let her accent slip so badly in front of Harry. She blamed her mother. Judging by the childishly happy giggling coming from the woman, it was blame well placed.

Harry had turned bright red when René ordered them to go upstairs to their assigned bedroom and have sex. He didn't help matters when he explained that he and Apolline would be down the hall in another bedroom doing it as well. The family's unofficial motto was along the lines of: Better Safe than Sorry.

Still, Harry and Fleur were blushing madly as they re-emerged a few hours later, Apolline with that happy grin, Sirius and Andy smirking and René hiding his face in his hands.

"Silencing charms?" Sirius asked in amusement.

There was a sound of rushing in Harry's ears as the blood tried to escape his pores.

"We never needed them before." Fleur tried not control her own blood flow issues.

"How did the other students not discover you?" René pleaded.

"We didn't use the dorms!" Harry said, shocked at the suggestion.

"Think the room they used came with privacy charms. They were using the Master Bedroom at my home and it has built in privacy charms." Sirius explained.

"What now!" Harry nearly shouted. "I mean, what do we do now?"

"Climb into a bottle and bemoan my lonely life."

Everyone looked at Andy.

"Did I say that out loud?"

"We have received word that we can now move to Stanstead Airport where a plane is waiting. The British agents will travel to France to carry out their interrogation." René answered, ignoring the policeman. "Sirius will need to be restrained again but only until we have reached Lyon."

"In the cage?" The dog in human skin whined.

"That'll depend on how much you annoy me." Andy glared at him.

Fortunately for Sirius, he was on his best behaviour. The journey to Stanstead Airport was quiet and simple.

Once they were on the plane Andy threatened Sirius with a gag. He just would not shut up about the amazing metal flying broom.

"For the love of God, Padfoot!" Harry exclaimed eventually. "Shut up! There is no way Mum didn't tell you about planes."

"Listen you!" Sirius glared at him across the aisle. "Every year we magical born have to put up with excitable ten and eleven-year-olds gasping and exclaiming all down Diagon Alley. You can give a magical born a break when they first encounter something like a giant metal broomstick!"

"At least muggle-raised learn the right terms." Harry sneered. "No wonder Fleur can beat you at Scrabble in English."

"Christ on a bike! You're joking?" Andy leaned forward from the seat behind Sirius.

"She cheats!"

"Easy way to prove it." Harry shrugged.

"We don't have a Scrabble board." Sirius sneered.

"All we need is a book and some paper and pens."

And so it came to pass that the for the first time in decades the French and British battled each other over the English Channel.

Harry sat there with a manual for the microwave in the staff kitchen and called out words for them to spell.

An English rebellion was soon in the making as Andy became more and more disgusted with Sirius' pitiable literacy skills.

By the time they landed in Lyon, Andy was threatening the former prisoner with new accommodations in the Tower of London. Sirius was an abysmal specimen of an educated Englishman.

Harry pointed out that he was actually a prime example of an English wizard.

Sirius didn't know how to take that and just stared at his godson suspiciously.

Things got even more uncomfortable for Sirius when they reached the police station and he was being processed.

Everyone was speaking French.

"We are in France." Harry muttered quietly to his grumbling godfather as he stood next to the cuffed man.

"How am I supposed to survive here if no one can understand me?"

"No one can understand you anyway. Not much of a change if you ask me."

"You are not helping."

"Just pretend you are in dog form. You do pretty good at communicating then." Harry suggested.

Sirius nodded with a bit of pride and thoughtfulness.

"Just remember that it is not alright to pee on something to make it yours."

With the successful hand over of the 'prisoner', Andy made his farewells and headed back to England on the plane.

Sirius was held overnight as they questioned him and fed him full of truth serum. Harry stayed nearby through the whole deal.

Fleur stayed with Harry.

René stayed with Fleur.

Apolline would have stayed with René, but someone had to go home and rescue the au pair from Gabrielle.

It was a very tired foursome that stumbled through the door to the Delacour Home. Harry and Fleur were immediately set upon by Gabrielle. They were also introduced to Alexandra, the au pair from Italy.

Who was also a Veela.

Eventually Alexandra managed to pry Gabrielle away from Harry and Fleur so they could head to bed.

Harry had no idea how he and Fleur managed to have sex whilst being so tired… all he knew was he woke up still 'connected' to Fleur and she wasn't suffering.

Due to Sirius' not knowing a lick of French, and Harry's rather bad attempts at speaking it, René had taken time off work so he could act as a translator for the two Brits when they went to Paris to meet with the Minister for Justice and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Magic.

Harry's 'abduction' had quickly been reported to Dumbledore who had no choice but to report it to the Ministry.

For some reason, one that Harry couldn't figure out, the British Minister for Magic wanted him returned to England.

This led to a very exciting meeting three days after they arrived in France.

Harry and Fleur sat on one side of the long conference table flanked by Sirius and René. To Sirius' left sat the French ministers. Opposite them sat a livid Fudge and Umbridge with a fairly relieved Albus Dumbledore and a tired Amelia Bones.

"Minister Dupris, you do realise how dangerous that man is?" Amelia asked the Minister for Justice cautiously, she was clearly holding her wand under the table.

"Considering we questioned 'im under truth potion… oui! I know exactly 'ow dangerous Monsieur Black is." The man responded with a smirk.

"But-"

"He's innocent." Harry butted in snappishly. "Just like I've been telling you and Fudge all this time."

"Preposterous!" Fudge blustered. "Clearly he's managed to confound you all!" Cornelius was looking quite scared. He had his wand out and it was shaking wildly. Sirius had very little worry about any spells coming from it actually hitting him.

"Our own esteemed justice system settled this matter years ago." Umbridge was not scared. She had just a bit more intelligence than Fudge to recognise that Black wouldn't try anything with witnesses. "I find it quite unseemly that the French have decided to question our rulings." The way she said 'French' could only be taken as an epitaph.

"Zis is ze same 'justice system' that saw a child tried as an adult for a clear cut case of self-defence?" Dupris scoffed.

"Madam Umbridge is quite right." Fudge said as he puffed himself up. "France has no right to question our government. Black is a mass murderer and he is to be returned to the British Ministry for execution by the Dementor's Kiss.

"Harry Potter is also a suspect in a possible plot of sedition."

Harry's eyes went wide. "Isn't that like… treason?" He asked in shock.

"Sedition means that you are inciting people to rebel against the rulers of the country. In this case, The British Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore explained calmly. "They are saying that you are doing so by claiming Lord Voldemort has returned."

Everyone in the room rolled their eyes as the two idiots gasped and paled at the forbidden name.

"But I never asked anyone to rebel." Harry was confused. "I just told everyone that he was back. I didn't have any contact with the magical world over the holidays until the Dementors att-"

"See! You can't trust a word the boy says." Fudge interrupted loudly. "As if the Dementors would dare to defy the British Ministry of Magic."

"'E testified under a truth potion." Dupris commented dryly. "Also, you should expect to be summoned before ze ICW. Britain 'as been warned zat if zey could not control zose demons, zen ze ICW would step in and destroy zem."

"They have no right to interfere with matters of a sovereign nation!" Umbridge said angrily.

"Madam, when a country has a weapon that they have no control over, that is a distinct threat to neighbouring countries, you can rest assured that the ICW will not care one whit as to your 'sovereignty'." Minster Dule, the Foreign Minister stated in a light accent.

"Dumbledore, why are you even here?" The Minister asked. "It was disgusting that your Ministry thought it could dictate the position of Supreme Mugwump, but I heard you were no longer the Chief Wizard of your government."

Albus went to answer but-

"Dumbledore is also under suspicion of seditious activities." Umbridge smirked. "As soon as we were able, we removed him from the position and appointed someone of much higher… quality."

It was clear to anybody who knew about the blood classes in England that she meant a Pureblood.

But then she sneered at Minister Dule. "England held the position of Supreme Mugwump for decades. We have every right to appoint the old fool's replacement."

"If zat was ze case, France would withdraw from the ICW." Came the steel voice of the Muggle and Magical French Prime Minister, Charles Jacob. "And you would do well to remember your place, Madam Undersecretary."

"Now see here-"

"No Cornelius." Charles said firmly. "You 'ave come to my country and demanded zat we collude wiz you to continue your crimes against Monsieur Potter and Monsieur Black. Both are citizens of France. Monsieur Potter is recognised as a hero even here for the events of '81."

"I fail to see what that has to do with anything." Fudge scoffed. "You did nothing to help during the war."

"Because you English refused to let us!" Dule practically shouted. "But that didn't stop you from letting your terrorists come into France and cause problems here."

"Gentlemen, I'm sure you are all very busy." Amelia broke in, she sounded exhausted. "I myself have many meetings left today after this one.

"Can we please stay focused on why we are here."

"Quite right Amelia." Fudge said with an air of sageness. "We came for Black and Potter. You will hand over their wands and have them delivered to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow morning."

"No."

"Is France stating that it intends to harbour known fugitives and traitors to the Ministry?" Madame Umbridge asked the Prime Minister with a superior smirk. "After all, they willingly broke the International Statute of Secrecy by revealing magic to muggles."

"No. Zey did not." The Prime Minister stated firmly. "If anyone is guilty of zat, it would be Mademoiselle Delacour. She revealed the situation to her father. Monsieur Delacour is an employee of Interpol on ze magical side. He passed the information to his superiors who liaised with the non-magical side and subsequently the non-magical Metropolitan Police of London."

"In the future, I would appreciate a little warning when such things occur in the future." Amelia said a little waspishly.

"I did warn you." Harry glared at her. "I even asked you for help. You said you couldn't. I found someone who could."

"Cornelius, take your little mob and go home." Dule said as he stood. "Harry Potter and Sirius Black are here under human rights acts and have been granted citizenship.

"Attempts to remove them from France without their consent will be considered an act of war."

"Dumbledore, do something." Fudge ordered.

Albus just chuckled. "I am just the Headmaster of a school, Cornelius. Something that you have been trying very hard to change. I have no power or authority here.

"Besides, even if I did, I would merely use it to have you removed from office."

Fudge paled. "You really are staging a rebellion!"

"No. I am just trying to prepare my children for the coming civil war when Lord Voldemort makes his move."

"HE IS NOT BACK!" Fudge screamed like a little girl.

"And if you wish really hard it might come true." Fleur said sarcastically.

"Now see here you little-"

"Mind your words, Madam." Dule warned Umbridge. "Both Monsieur Potter and Monsieur Black have provided memories and testimony under truth potion. We have also managed to confirm their stories by interrogating several Death Eaters who tried to illegally enter France.

"They confirm everything that these two men have said."

Cornelius just sneered. "Typical French gullibility."

"Ze French Government orders you to remove yourselves from our land." The Prime Minister said as he stood. "Cornelius Fudge and 'is government are no longer welcome in France."

Harry, Fleur, René and Sirius were waiting patiently in the conference room. The Ministers had just left behind the British representatives who were marched out at wand point.

It was minutes later that the Foreign Minister re-entered with Dumbledore and two guards.

"Mademoiselle Delacour, Monsieur Dumbledore has asked to speak with you regarding your… 'infiltration' of his school. Is this acceptable?" Minister Dule made it clear from his tone that the decision was hers.

"Is she being accused of something?" Harry asked as he stood defensively.

"No, no, my boy." Albus assured them with a twinkle and a smile. "My purpose for asking is not to admonish Miss Delacour, but to replicate her actions."

"Que?"

"Sirius, please. Stick to English." René shuddered.

"Harry, Fleur." Albus looked at them intently. "Aside from the fact that Fleur managed to enter the most secure building in Britain, she also managed to remain undetected as she lived there.

"Harry, you of all people should be aware of just how badly Hogwarts has suffered when it comes to security. You only have to look at Sirius after all."

"Ok, so you just want to know so you can close the holes?" Harry asked.

That smile became slightly more sinister, but not for them. "As I said, I wish to replicate them. All of us know that war is coming to Britain. The children are my highest priority. I will die to ensure their safety.

"But I can't protect them if I am dead. But I can use the magic of Hogwarts along with Miss Delacour's experience to hide the children likely to be targeted and myself to aid them."

"France would be willing to shelter the families of innocent children." Minister Dule stated gravely.

That was all Fleur needed to tell Dumbledore all she knew. Her government was behind the action if it was to save children so she would help.

It was the following day and Harry, Sirius and the Delacour family were in the living room staring in horror at the massive parliament of owls that littered the street outside.

They had slammed the windows and doors shut after the first three had delivered cursed and booby-trapped items. Now they were waiting for the authorities to clear the street and set up protections so they couldn't find Harry or Fleur.

Gabrielle was sitting tearfully on her father's lap, she had just experienced Fleur screaming in agony from one of the cursed letters to make it through. Fortunately, René and Sirius were able to stop and remove it before it could act for more than twenty seconds.

It was still twenty seconds too long as far as they were all concerned.

Fleur was being held by Harry whilst Apolline had them both wrapped in her arms fearfully.

Sirius was standing with his wand in his hand and his face as dark as his name.

Pops of apparition sounded outside as the gendarmes arrived with personnel from the Magical department from the Société Protectrice des Animaux (SPA). They immediately got to work stunning the owls and collecting the letters and packages.

Two officers headed to the house where Sirius cautiously let them in, his wand trained for the slightest hint of feather that might try to follow.

René handed Gabrielle to Apolline and spoke with the men. Five minutes later and he was furiously explaining the situation.

He started with slamming down an imported copy of the Daily Prophet on the table.

Boy-Who-Lived Attacks Minister of Magic and Flees to France!

"I shall summarise it briefly." René said tightly. "It claims that Harry, with the aid of Fleur, assaulted Madam Umbridge at Hogwarts. When the Minister personally attended the scene to comfort his friend and colleague, he was also attacked.

"They claim you used Unforgiveables."

"And these are all from regular citizens?" Sirius asked in disgust.

"They printed Fleur's address." He stabbed a finger at the offending paragraph. "These two are here to move us to a safe house."

"I need to go back to England."

"Harry… if you go back, they'll lynch first and ask questions later." Sirius warned.

Harry had a grim look. "Not if they don't want to lose their magic."

It had taken two days of arguing where Fleur and Apolline were all for Harry's plan, Sirius was worried about his godson's safety and René thought it was far too dangerous.

It was Gabrielle who had convinced René.

"You always say that if someone is mean to me I should ask them to stop." She lectured in French.

And that was why Harry was standing in a small wizarding radio station in a small town called 'Nouvion' on the coast of France.

The French Prime Minister was proudly showing the family an old antique whilst the technicians prepared to broadcast.

"Zis radio was used in the Second World War. A local café owner 'ad it 'idden under 'is mozzer-in-law's bed. 'E is considered an 'Ero of France!"

"And the greatest lover since Casanova." The head of the station snorted. "René Artois was my grandfather. He was chased by nearly every woman in town and… a few of the men."

"Yes… but zat is not what France remembers 'im for." The Prime Minister said with a glare.

"It's what I'll remember him for." Sirius muttered.

Unfortunately everyone heard him.

"I miss Andy."

The technicians called over in French and informed them they were ready for Harry.

"You are sure about this, 'Arry?" The Prime Minister asked carefully. "France will support and protect you, but… you could be about to 'urt a good many people."

"You saw the letters sir. They've made their choice. Now it is me or them."

Monsieur Jacob sighed. "Bon Chance, 'Arry."

Last night the French Ministry had sent messages to friends around the British Isles. They had warned them to spread the word that Harry Potter would address the nation on the Wizarding Wireless Network.

Fudge had of course heard and was currently waiting with anticipation at the WWN station with Dementors and aurors to capture the brat.

He would be very disappointed.

Harry took a deep breath as the On Air light went red and the technician gave him a thumbs up.

"My name is Harry James Potter. I am speaking to the citizens of Great Britain who survived the last war with Voldemort. The ones who have sent me hate mail and cursed items. The ones who have been calling me a liar, insane… attention seeking.

"Whilst I have always seen myself as 'Just Harry', you people of the British Wizarding World have saddled me with the title of 'The Boy Who Lived'.

"According to all of you, I earned that title when my family sacrificed themselves leading to the first fall of Voldemort. The very next day you all celebrated… all you cared about was that Voldemort was gone.

"But that day you all acknowledged me as the defeater of Voldemort. I lost my mother and my father that night. I was disfigured and injured.

"And you all benefited."

Harry closed his eyes tightly, this was the hard part.

"You all owe me a life debt. A magically created bond where you are indebted to me for the service I provided by saving you and your families from further pain and suffering.

"And how have you repaid that debt?" A hint of disgust crept into his tone. "You lock me away in a prison for ten years. You keep the knowledge of magic from me. And worst of all… you persecuted me. Tortured me.

"So, here I am, exiled to France and you still try to harm me.

"I, Harry James Potter, am calling in the life debts owed me by the magicals of Great Britain who have been party to my torture and persecution. You will immediately report any knowledge of Voldemort's location to the DMLE. You will report any knowledge of his or his Death Eater's activities to the DMLE. When you do eventually discover his location, you will assemble, en masse, and together you will fire spells at him and his minions to kill him.

"You will never attempt to contact or reach me again. I hope to see my friends soon, but the rest of you… goodbye."

Sirius gave the technician a nod and he cut the broadcast. Fleur moved forward gently and wrapped her arms around Harry as she knelt next to the chair.

"Come 'Arry. France will now do for you what René Artois did all zose years ago for British soldiers." The Prime Minister said firmly.

Once again, the last of the Potters was going into hiding.

Wizarding Britain was in a complete and utter panic.

Hogwarts was practically empty after the parents had withdrawn their children. Most were sent to Europe, those that could afford it were shipped to Australia and America.

Only the muggleborn remained.

Pureblood families ranged from enraged to terrified, half-bloods added a sense of resignation to their state.

At the Burrow, Molly Weasley was fuming.

"First he plots to get us all arrested and humiliated by muggles… and now he is demanding that we go and kill the Dark Lord because the papers printed some lies? I don't know what happened to that boy!"

"Molly." Came the stern voice of Arthur, he was still bandaged up from the snake attack. "Harry knew perfectly well that you wouldn't be in any danger from the muggles."

"They took our wands and interr-"

"In a most civilised manner. And quite frankly they were upholding the law and we were breaking it."

"Because-"

"ENOUGH!" Arthur was tired, itchy and in pain. His patience did not need to be tested. "I am sitting here, in my home because of Harry. Without him I would be dead and you and the family would be under intense investigation because I was found in a highly restricted area.

"If you had actually listened to what Harry had said in his speech, you would have heard him say that he was calling in the life debts only of those who had abused him.

"Now… unless there is something you want to tell me that happened between you and Harry… I believe we can safely drop this topic."

Molly grunted unhappily but kept quiet as she went about polishing her already clean kitchen.

It was only a few minutes later that she gasped and spun to Arthur. "Percy!"

However, another red head at the other end of the island was in a similar state.

"You have done some real stupid things in your life, Ron, but accusing Harry of making you fight You-Know-Who really ranks up there." Ginny sneered at her brother. "He specifically stated he was only talking to those who persecuted and tortured him!"

"Ginny." She turned to Fred who was seated on the couch next to his twin in the Gryffindor Common Room.

"The Tournament last year?" George said with a grimace.

Ginny's eyes widened and Hermione went pale.

"Wait… wouldn't that mean that everyone who thought he was the Heir of Slytherin or who wore those badges is included?" Neville sat forward from the end of the couch.

"I don't know." Angela said thoughtfully. "If they were in your year or up, maybe. The rest weren't even born."

"Everyone from Ginny's year up." Hermione's voice was hoarse. The others looked at her, they didn't realise. "In second year, Harry saved the whole school from the basilisk. I owe him for the Troll, Ginny for the Chamber of Secrets, Fleur and Gabrielle for the second task… we all owe him."

"Yes, but again, he is only calling out those who persecuted and tortured him!" Ginny was getting very irritated with them.

"I'm a dead man." Ron flopped onto the last chair at the table with his head in his hands.

Back in the south, the Ministry was also in a tizzy. Fudge had people running around and banging on doors on everywhere from the Department of Muggle Relations to the Department of Mysteries. He was desperate to find out if Potter's threat applied to him.

"Cornelius, I fail to see the issue." Lucius chided his puppet smoothly. "Even if you do consider yourself in debt to Potter, he has wasted it on this horrible fantasy that the Dark Lord has returned. We both know that to be false, so in effect, he has released you from that oath."

"But what if he was right and Lord-Thingy is back!?"

Lucius cringed at the awful name the current Minister used for his master. It what was made worse by the fact that Fudge was not trying to be brave… he was just an imbecile.

"If the Dark Lord was back, then surely he would have made sure the entire world knew." Lucius reasoned.

"Yes… yes, of course. Thank you my friend." Fudge wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief. He gave a forced laugh. "Imagine if the brat was telling the truth! Half the country would lose their magic if they did nothing."

Lucius cringed again. That 'half' would consist of half-bloods and purebloods. Most of the muggleborn weren't even born. With muggleborn running things they would likely involve the muggles themselves. There had been one undocumented raid that only the Dark Lord's inner circle knew of. It involved an RAF base and the loss of over fifty wizards whilst the muggles emerged unscathed.

The Dark Lord had immediately ordered that they avoid the muggle military and law enforcement.

The Dark Lord in question was currently fuming as he paced in a muggle house in the north of London. It had been abandoned for some time, but that was simply because he had bought the place decades ago as a safe house. For now it was a temporary headquarters for staging his return.

"Find the location of the brat immediately!" He hissed his instructions to his fearful followers. "I want to parade his limbless and body through the streets of muggle London! No one will dare to stand against me again!"

The sycophants immediately began bowing and backing out.

"AND GET ME THAT CURSED PROPHECY!"

Within a day, over a hundred witches and wizards found themselves without magic as they loudly decried the brat and attempted to send more cursed mail at him and his filthy whore.

Unfortunately for most of the country, this included Fudge and half his administration. It was near the end of the day that the now muggle staff of the Ministry of Magic realised there was a problem.

The lifts wouldn't work for them. The floo wouldn't work. They couldn't apparate home. They couldn't create inter-office memos. They couldn't reheat their tea.

It was a disaster.

The Ministry of Magic was in uproar and the minions were scrambling to find a decent kettle and teapot.

Back at Hogwarts, several new muggles were being sent home. They mainly came from the upper year Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws.

The Slytherins came out relatively unscathed. There was a distinct limp amongst the children of 'The Dark Lord's Imperioused Victims'. It seemed that the older Slytherins who didn't care for the Dark Git took Harry seriously. They were Purebloods after all and understood the nature of life debts.

The children sent home had immediately condemned Harry for his words and mocked him.

Those that would also be affected by Harry's claim but not lost their magic had immediately written to their parents and the DMLE with names of who they suspected were children supporting Voldemort.

Nothing came of those letters, but the action and intent was enough to satisfy the debt.

The removal of the new muggles had to be done as quickly as possible. Just as with the events at the Ministry, the children could no longer see most of the castle or get it to respond. As far as they could tell they were in a dead and derelict old structure.

It was an extremely sad Headmaster that stood and addressed the remaining students that evening.

"Our school is poorer today. Poorer in students and friends." He said solemnly. "The only good thing to take away from this loss is that at least their lives were spared."

Of course there was a good chance the students who lost their magic would die anyway, whether it be from suicide or murder from their own disgusted families… which was unlikely as those families would likely violate the debt themselves.

"It is a disgrace that one of our own was hounded out of this school… this country. Worse, that it is someone we call a hero.

"But then, for him to be assaulted upon leaving as he did nothing but try to be free of us-"

"He attacked the Minister!"

Albus scowled angrily at the seventh year Ravenclaw. "I was at that meeting. Harry Potter barely spoke. He most certainly did not attack the Minister or anyone else in any manner."

He took a moment to compose himself. "I see that if I do not want to lose any more students, I should perhaps teach you what the life debt requires.

"The debt will not affect the children from third year down. But it might affect your parents if they were supporters of Lord Voldemort during the last war.

"Likewise, the debt does not affect the muggleborn in the fourth and fifth years.

"Anyone who has not harassed Harry in any manner during the time he has been a student here, is not affected by the debt. 'Harassment' includes acts such as accusing him of being the Heir of Slytherin in his second year, wearing those badges in his fourth year and throwing the words of the Daily Prophet and Ministry regarding the Triwizard Tournament in his face.

"If the debt applies to you, then should you have information concerning Lord Voldemort or his Death Eaters, I recommend speaking with your Head of House immediately. We will relay that information to the Aurors."

Albus closed his eyes and braced himself. "I regret that, should the location of Lord Voldemort be discovered, you will be required to join the rest of your fellows and cast to kill at The Dark Lord.

"In truth, some may die. But if you all do as Harry instructed, Lord Voldemort will perish. No single man or woman can withstand that level power.

"Hopefully the Ministry will appoint someone who can organise aid in the form of a defensive line to protect you as you fulfil your debt.

"I will certainly be there and give my all to protect you. I only ask that you realise that once again, you are placing yourselves in the debt of others."

Whilst Magical Britain was in turmoil, Harry Potter was being dragged around by a little blonde rapscallion that was far stronger than she looked.

Nine-year-old Gabrielle had insisted on sitting next to her big brother-in-law on every ride at EuroDisney.

Gabrielle's insistence at calling him her brother-in-law had led to Harry asking René what he needed to do to marry Fleur.

René had just snorted and responded with: "Be older."

The subject was dropped after René explained that they had to wait until Harry was eighteen.

Unfortunately for René, Apolline was nearby and pointed out that as they were a veela bonded couple they were considered married by the ICW and France, they just weren't considered adults and were the responsibility of their parents and guardians.

René spent the day pouting. Gabrielle and Fleur didn't help by teasing him.

Over the week following Harry's radio broadcast and the initial loss of magical citizens, Britain had become a place of fear and suspicion. People were reporting anytime that someone sneezed.

The Ministry was still in a shambles as they had no unified leader. Each head of department was essentially the king or queen of their little fiefdom.

Amelia Bones had taken advantage of the lack of oversight and regulation from higher up and had arrested every bastard she could that she saw in Harry Potter's memories of the graveyard.

She was riding on cloud nine and sent a personal letter for the French to pass on to Harry informing him that Lucius Malfoy had been arrested. He was being held indefinitely as there was no court to try him in. Technically it was against the law, but Amelia Bones was the law for the time being.

Harry was not being informed of the state of Britain. He was told that it was no longer his concern and that he should enjoy being a teenager with a girlfriend.

Harry had argued that his friends were still in Scotland. Sirius and René began working with the French Foreign Ministry to try and contact Hermione, Neville and the Weasleys.

That was a bad idea.

Harry was on his fourteenth day of being dragged around EuroDisney as Gabrielle Delacour sought to squeeze out every last drop of fun she could from the recently opened theme park.

Harry didn't mind. He enjoyed being nothing more than a face in the crowd.

After day three of Gabrielle's mission, Apolline had begged off and left the group in Sirius' care.

After day six, Sirius had crawled into bed and faked dragon pox.

After day ten, Fleur had begged Harry to let her stay at home and read.

Harry was still going strong as he carried a camera and took pictures of the happy girl hugging all the bright, colourful, costumed characters.

But when they got home-"

"Harry, Harry, Harry. Did you really believe you could defy the Greatest Wizard of all Time and escape?"

Harry's blood ran cold at the sibilant voice. He slowly turned, pushing Gabrielle behind him.

"This is France, Tom." He said as defiantly as he could, staring at the noseless monster and trying to ignore the three Death Eaters behind him. "The people here aren't afraid of you."

Riddle chuckled. "Then I shall be sure to correct their failings. But first, I will see you suffer in agony and-"

*BANG* *BANG*

Riddle fell to the ground screaming in agony. One of his legs was severed at the thigh, the other was hanging on at the knees by a thread of skin.

Harry didn't hesitate as he spun around, picking Gabrielle up and pelting down the two metre garden path to the front door and barrelling inside as it was held open by Sirius and Remus.

In the middle of Diagon Alley, a Port Key deposited a badly bleeding Tom Marvolo Riddle. As he landed, a red envelope floated into the air before animating into a facsimile of a mouth. Then it spoke loudly, at exactly the same moment the same words were heard of the WWN:

"Lord Voldemort is lying injured in Diagon Alley."

Faces immediately appeared at the store windows. Then they cautiously edged their doors open.

"Is it really him?" Florean called over to Ollivander nervously.

"So it would seem." The old man said gravely. He might have appeared brave as he exited his shop and approached pitifully groaning creature, but really, he was just smart enough to realise the Dark Bastard didn't have his wand.

"Lacero!"

The gathering crowd gasped as Voldemort swiped his hand at Garrick Ollivander with a wandless curse. Ollivander merely deflected it lazily.

"Now, now, Tom. You should have expected this would eventually happen." Garrick chided as he lazily cast a severing charm that removed the creature's hands.

The screaming set the crowd off.

"Why won't you just kill it?!" Madam Malkin wailed as she huddled with her shop assistant.

Garrick scoffed. "Because, although I would consider myself beholden to young Mister Potter, I am fully aware that I have not violated the life debt I owe him. His instructions were quite clear."

"Ah, you've waited."

The crowd sighed in relief as Albus Dumbledore strode purposefully up to Ollivander.

"You have to save us!" Madame Primpernelle cried.

Albus looked to Ollivander curiously.

Garrick simply looked peeved. "They still believe that someone should do their dirty work for them. Clearly she doesn't want to be a magical anymore."

"Quite." Albus said as he fixed the old beautician with a look of mild disgust. "Mister Potter's instruct were clear. I certainly won't be responsible for putting the magic of my remaining students at risk by depriving them of the chance to redeem themselves."

"Dumbledore!" Came the pained and angry hiss from the bleeding fool. "When I am reborn I will see to it that you and Potter suffer for eternity!"

"You are assuming, of course, that your death here will not affect all those despicable things you have done to ensure your immortality?" Albus queried as he calmly stepped closer.

"You have no idea-"

"I know the full prophecy, Tom. I was the one to receive it after all. I can assure you, what happens here today could easily fulfil your destiny and Harry's."

A flicker of fear crossed the mutant's face.

"You must have realised by now, Tom, you can claim no life debts. Your own selfish and malicious nature means you would never show the necessary compassion or sacrifice.

"Harry, on the other hand, doesn't even attempt to think if he should help another, he simply does. It is how he has the love of a beautiful young woman and her family."

Tom sneered. "Still harping on about love? How powerful is this love if it couldn't stop the boy from fleeing like the coward he is?"

"Powerful enough that his actions have given him a resource you could never dream of; the power of a nation."

Harry never returned to Britain.

He knew he could, but he also knew that many people resented him for calling in the debt. But at least they were forbidden from contacting him.

Still, Neville and Hermione had both visited him and kept him up to date on how things improved… or got worse.

Fred and George along with Arthur also paid Harry a visit. It was over a year after Tom Marvolo Riddle was killed by nearly half the magical population of Britain. The twins had returned the money that Harry had leant them, they assured Harry that they wanted make him a full partner in their booming business, but Molly held Harry responsible for Percy becoming a muggle.

Arthur made sure Harry knew that Molly couldn't contact him. She was now bound by the debt.

Ron tried to keep in contact with Harry. He managed two letters before he stopped responding. Hermione told Harry that Ron didn't want to upset his mother.

Neville corrected Hermione by pointing out that Ron was soaking up the attention now that Harry was gone.

The twins mugged Harry for a thousand galleons six months later. They made it up to him by giving him the money he should have gotten for being a partner. Apparently Molly had tried to send a Howler to Harry.

Molly was now a muggle.

The twins had had enough of her and left the country for France. Even the French enjoyed a good joke.

Fleur and her family happily helped Harry cope with the fact that there was more to life than his cupboard, Hogwarts and Britain. There was a whole world to experience and Fleur was there every step of the way… so was Apolline as she fought for Harry's dream of private islands where she and Fleur didn't need clothes.

The End

A/N: 'Allo, 'Allo was a BBC parody of a BBC drama about the French Resistance in World War Two. René Artois was a man married to a woman he didn't love but he was also sought after by most of the eligible females (and ineligible). Everyone used exceptionally bad accents. The French characters, the British, the German.


End file.
